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Hiotographic 

Sdences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/iClVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


\ 


^ 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquaa 


Th« 
tot 


Tha  Instituta  haa  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturaa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua. 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
tha  uaual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


□    Coloured  covera/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covera  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagie 


□   Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pellicula 

l~n    Cover  title  miasing/ 


D 
D 


D 
0 


D 


La  titra  de  couverture  manque 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartea  giographiquos  an  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noirel 


[~~|    Coloured  platea  and/or  illuatrations/ 


D 


Planchea  et/ou  illuatrationa  en  couleur 

Bounce  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cauae  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrie  peut  cauaer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  le  long  de  la  marg«  intArieurx) 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  tha  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  aa  peut  que  certainaa  pagea  blanchea  ajoutAea 
lors  d'une  reatauration  apparaiaaant  dana  ie  texte. 
mais,  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pagea  n'ont 
pas  M  filmAes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimantairas: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  la  mailleur  axamplaire 
qu'ii  lui  a  it*  possible  de  se  procurer.  Las  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-4tre  uniquea  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvant  modifier 
una  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  una 
modification  dans  la  mithoda  normale  de  filmaga 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


r~n   Coloured  pages/ 


D 


Pagea  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagtes 


□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurias  et/ou  pellicuiies 

0    Pagea  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dicoiorias,  tachaties  ou  piquiaa 

□    Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachies 

0Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

□    Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualiti  inigale  de  I'impression 

□    Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  material  supplimantaira 

□    Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Lea  pages  totalement  ou  partinllemant 
obscurctes  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  una  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  iti  filmies  i  nouveau  da  fapon  i 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


r-:^:' 


The 
poa 
oil 
fiinr 


Orii 
befl 
tha 
aid 
oth 
firs 
sioi 
or! 


The 
sha 
TIN 
whi 

Mai 
diff 
enti 
ba{ 
rigt 
req 
me 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


y 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  filmad  h«r«  has  b««n  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  ths  ganairosity  of: 

U  BlbliotMqiM  d»  la  Villa  da  MontrM 


L'oxampiaira  fllmA  fut  raprodult  grloa  i  la 
g*n4roslt*  da: 

La  BIMiothAqiM  da  la  Villa  da  MontrM 


Tho  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibllity 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacif ications. 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  MA  raproduitos  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  I'axamplaira  film*,  at  •n 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illustratad  imprassion. 


Las  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  ast  ImprimAa  sont  filmis  mn  commanpant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darniAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Toua  las  autraa  axamplairaa 
originaux  sont  filmte  an  comman9ant  par  la 
pramiira  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darnlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microf icha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  y  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  applias. 

Maps,  platas,  charts,  ate,  may  ba  filmed  at 
diffarant  reduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Un  dee  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
darni^re  image  da  cheque  microfiche,  salon  la 
cas:  la  symbols  »►  signifle  "A  8UIVRE",  le 
symbols  y  signifle  "FIN". 

Les  cartas,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  pauvant  Atra 
f ilmte  A  dee  taux  da  reduction  diff Aranta. 
Lorsqua  la  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atra 
raprodult  en  un  seul  clichA,  11  est  filmA  A  partir 
da  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  drohe, 
et  de  haut  en  l9as,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

\'\ 


6-h 


i  Ji  5l% 


33261 


Constance  of  Acadia. 


a  j^obel. 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS    BROTHERS. 

1886. 


i  -yk 


k  Ji 


Copyright,  1886, 
By  Roberts  Brothers. 


*\\ 


Sn(6en(tg  ^tn»: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridgs. 


r^\ 


To  W. 


CONTENTS. 


Paob 

I.    Light  over  a  Western  Sea 9 

II.  An  Interview  before  Breakfast  ...  14 

III.  Wreaths  of  Smoke 19 

IV.  Their  Gossips 28 

V.  A  Paternal  and  Filial  Fight  ....  38 

VI.    The  Wastes  of  the  World 45 

VII.    The  Souriquois 53 

VIII.  Marchioness  de  Guergheville  ....  64 

IX.    A  Floating  Jesuit 72 

X.    The  Night  Watch 81 

XI.    A  Feudal  Castle 89 

XII.    The  Queen  of  -.:  ^.a.dia y5 

Xm.    Ouangondy 102 

XIV.    Jemsek 109 

XV.    The  Cardinal 119 

XVI.    The  Acadian  Wild 126 

XVII.    RoDERiGO  Palladio 139 

XVin.    Richelieu's  Echo 145 

XIX.  Charnac^  and  his  Snow  Shoes      .     .    .  153 

XX.    The  Blockade 167 


vi  CONTENTS. 

Page 

'          XXI.  Governor  Winthrop's  Garden      .     .  175 

XXII.    Captain  Hawkins 185 

XXIII.  A  Puritan  Debatinq  Society    .    .    .  190 

XXIV.  Setting  Sail 202 

XXV.    Passaoeewakeaq 215 

XXVI.    Versailles 222 

XXVII.    La  Rochelle 231 

XXVIII.    The  Acadian  Wreath 243 

XXIX.    Baron  Charnac^ 252 

XXX.    The  Middle  of  the  Sea 260 

XXXI.  The  Suit  of  the  Dolphin     ....  271 

XXXII.    Castine 281 

XXXIII.  Rio  Hermoso 287 

XXXIV.  Artillery  Practice 295 

XXXV.  Constance   and  Charles  of  La  Ro- 
chelle    307 

XXXVI.    The  Tides  of  Fundy 312 

XXXVII.    In  the  Ice 316 

XXXVIII.  The  Jesuit   Fathers   say  Mass  for 

the  Repose  of  the  Dead  ....  324 

XXXIX.    The  Widow  Berni^res 833 

XL.  Before  Sunrise  and  after  Sunset  .  342 

XLI.    La  Tour 352 

To  the  Reader 365 


/ 


CONSTANCE    OF    ACADIA. 


CONSTANCE    OF  ACADIA. 


-•o*- 


I. 


LIGHT  OVER  A  WESTERN  SEA. 

"T  T  THEN  shall  I  call  you  Lieutenant  General  of 
V  V  Acadia  ? "  asked  the  bride  Constance  of  her 
husband,  as  they  reclined  upon  shelving  rocks  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot,  looking  toward  the 
southwest  long  after  the  sun  had  gone  down.  Be- 
yond the  salt  sea  there  was  still  a  silent  sea  of  dull 
crimson  in  the  sky ;  but  the  lambent  flames  so  long 
playing  upon  the  surface  of  the  waters  had  been 
nearly  quenched  in  the  gathering  night.  The  full 
moon  —  their  honeymoon  —  was  rising  in  the  east ; 
but  it  was  not  yet  dark  enough  for  them  to  notice 
their  luminary, — theirs  in  a  peculiar  sense  in  months 
of  early  marriage. 

"  My  father  should  bring  the  commission  soon," 
replied  Charles  la  Tour.  "  The  Shoals  vessel  from 
La  Eochelle,  that  hove  to  this  morning,  outside, 
brought  news  that  having  obtained  the  commission, 
he  was  captured  on  the  high  seas,  and  carried  prisoner 
to  England ;  but  had  been  released  upon  the  repre- 


10 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


sentation  made  by  your  old  townsman  Pierre  Gaudet, 
that  my  father  was  allied  to  the  Bouillon  family. 
The  English  take  kindly  to  Huguenot  noblemen ; 
and  none  the  less  so  if  they  know  anything  about 
Acadia.     I  look  for  him  almost  any  day." 

The  Guardian  Angel  who  had  watched,  and  waited 
upon,  Constance  for  twenty-five  years,  must  have  ob- 
served, even  in  the  gloaming,  the  color  deepen  in  her 
face  when  Charles  pronounced  the  home  words,  "  La 
Eochelle,"  and  "  Pierre  Gaudet ; "  but  the  color  had 
faded  again  when  he  came  to  the  word  "Acadia." 

Like  a  person  whose  body  was  in  Acadia,  and 
whose  heart,  will  or  nill,  must  be  where  her  body  was, 
—  she  asked  mechanically,  —  "  And  what  will  Charles 
do  when  he  gets  to  be  Lieutenant  General  ? " 

There  was  no  one  of  finer  discernment  of  the  hidden 
meaning  of  tones,  of  faces,  of  attitudes,  than  Charles 
la  Tour,  whenever  his  absorbing  business  plans  al- 
lowed him  to  think  of  anything  else  than  his  gains, 
or  when  a  keen  perception  of  the  mental  state  of  any 
one  he  conversed  with  was  likely  to  help  him  in  a 
business  way. 

"  You  speak,  my  Constance,  of  a  third  person : 
*  What  will  Charles  do  ? '  You  are  dreaming  of 
La  Eochelle,  and  of  the  old  man  Gaudet."  And, 
turning  so  as  to  see  his  wife's  face,  he  took  her  hand 
in  his,  pressing  it  warmly.  "  These  home  words 
make  you  speak  of  me  impersonally,  as  if  I  were  as 
far  off  as  your  father's  house ;  or,  as  far  off,"  —  look- 
ing deeply  into  her  dark  eyes  as  the  light  upon  the 


LIQUT  OVER  A  WESTERN  SEA. 


11 


water  westward  was  reflected  upon  them,  —  "  as  your 
childhood  loves." 

The  poor  wife,  —  I  had  almost  said  child-wife, 
since  Charles  was  tall  and  the  type  of  manly  beauty, 
and  Constance  was  in  comparison  so  much  shorter 
ami  smaller  as  to  seem  childlike  to  him,  although 
she  averaged  well  with  her  countrywomen  of  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  —  closed  her  eyes,  and  her  Guardian 
Angel  must  have  wiped  away  a  tear-drop. 

Charles  did  not  see  it,  but  he  saw  visions  beyond 
the  reach  of  sight  —  far  over  sea. 

But  Charles  la  Tour,  who  had  high  aspirations,  had 
not  married  for  love,  not  he ;  he  had,  indeed,  said  that 
he  loved.  He  was  not  without  love.  But  Constance 
had  taken  his  fancy  as  being  the  brightest  and  best 
judge  of  furs  who  had  ever  appeared  in  Acadia ;  and 
he  was  in  the  fur-business.  And  as  to  fish,  she  knew 
well  the  La  Rochelle  market,  and  was  a  judge  of 
values,  and  of  seasons,  —  in  a  word  she  knew  a  cod 
from  a  haddock ;  and  he  was  making  a  vast  deal  of 
money  in  fish.  ■  Out  of  the  five  thousand  men  in  the 
eastern  fisheries  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  he  and  his  father,  and  their  Port  Royal  partner 
the  son  of  Poutrincourt,  employed  one  twentieth. 

La  Tour  really  loved  Constance,  more  or  less ;  why 
should  he  not  ?  Toward  her  his  heart  was  not 
divided  with  any  other  of  womankind.  But  he  was 
through  and  through  a  business  man  ;  and  his  whole 
soul  was  in  his  affairs.  He  had  no  such  sentiment, 
or  believed  then  that  he  had  none,  as  would  lead 


^  .,: 


12 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


him  to  object  to  his  wife's  having  a  great  variety  of 
French  loves,  if  that  should  please  her  French  fancy. 
But  little  did  he  know  of  Constance  Bernon,  —  even 
if  he  did  look  deeply  into  her  eyes. 
•  The  moon  had  come  forth  in  all  her  strength,  illu- 
minating the  bay  of  the  Penobscot ;  and  Charles  could 
discern  far  away  upon  the  southern  waters  the  gleam 
of  the  paddle-stroke,  as  Joe  Takouchin  was  coming 
up  with  the  flood  from  Long  Island. 

"  What  will  Charles  do  when  he  gets  to  be  Lieu- 
tenant General  of  Acadia  ? "  asked  Charles,  repeating 
his  wife's  interrogation.  "He  will  get  to  be  very 
rich  in  a  monopoly  of  fur  and  fish,  and  in  great  land- 
grants  ;  and  then  he  will  erect  Castle  La  Tour  at  the 
mouth  of  one  of  the  great  Acadian  rivers;  then  a 
feudal  lord  and  lady  will  preside  over  Acadia;  and 
then  the  house  of  Bouillon  need  not  be  ashamed 
of  having  poor  relations.  My  father  was  once  as 
rich  as  any  of  them.  But  he  was  a  patriot,  and 
lost  his  property  in  the  civil  wars,  while  some  of  his 
relatives  saved  their  capons  whatever  became  of  their 
country." 

It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  there  were  few  men 
of  that  age  in  America,  with  its  little  handfuls  of 
population  scattered  along  the  coast,  who  were  the 
match  of  Charles  la  Tour  in  "  presence,"  in  "  persua- 
siveness," in  "  affability,"  in  power  to  gain  the  "  con- 
fidence "  of  those  with  whom  he  had  to  do.  When 
he  set  out  to  marry,  he  was  perfect  master  of  the  art 
of  making  his  wife  believe  that  he  thought  everything 


\ ,     * 


LIGHT  OVER  A    WESTERN  SEA. 


13 


r* 


of  her.  He  was  fond  of  her,  and  so  perhaps  supposed 
that  he  loved  her.  He  admired  her  matchless  dis- 
cernment as  a  business  woman ;  if  she  only  had  as 
perfect  a  passion  as  he  for  beaver  and  cod,  there  need 
be  no  limit  to  their  acquisitions  in  the  vast  area  of 
inland  waters  and  the  great  fishing-banks  at  their 
doors.  She  was,  if  anything,  too  spiritually-minded, 
as  she  called  it ;  too  Huguenotish,  as  he  called  it. 

Here  was  to  La  Tour  a  solid  business  reason  for 
marriage ;  as  Baron  de  Castin  married  the  daughter 
of  Madocawondo,  upon  business  grounds.  Constance 
being  a  woman  he  liked  her  more  than  he  would  a 
man,  and  more  and  more  as  long  as  she  lived ;  but 
he  never  loved  her,  was  never  devoted  to  her. 

But  Constance  was  deserving  of  the  profoundest 
love ;  it  is  no  wonder  that  her  Guardian  Angel  stood 
by  her  and  thought  himself  better  off  than  in  heaven, 
—  so  that  one  loved  her,  who  was  worthy.  One  who 
was  not  worthy  also  loved  her,  —  although  not  her 
husband. 


14 


COJ^STANO:   OF  ACADIA. 


II. 


AN  INTERVIEW  BEFORE  BREAKFAST. 


nnHE  day -dawn,  with  all  the  colors  of  heaveu 
-^  reflected  upon  the  Bay,  found  the  bride  alone, 
looking  far  eastward,  as  if  by  looking  far  enough  she 
could  have  seen  the  weather-vane  above  the  pointed 
roof  of  her  father's  house  near  the  Lantern,  close  by 
the  solid  sea-wall  in  that  well-armed,  rich,  and  enter- 
prising Huguenot  city  La  Rochelle,  mistress  of  so 
many  seas,  and  fair  to  look  upon  in  the  eyes  of  any 
lover  of  the  true  greatness  of  France. 

The  Lieutenant  General,  whose  commission  had 
not  arrived  in  the  thirty-sixth  month  of  patient 
waiting,  had  arisen  before  day,  in  his  eager  attention 
to  tlie  gains  of  his  trade ;  and  he  was  now  seeking 
out  the  intricate  windings  of  the  Biguyduce,^  with 
his  birch. 

1  An  arm  of  the  sea,  now  known  as  Bagaduce,  east  of  Castine. 
Williamson  thinks  it  was  named  for  some  French  Major  —  Bigay- 
•iuce.  The  peninsula  between  this  river  and  the  Penobscot  Bay  on 
the  west  being  known  to  history  as  the  Majabigaduce.  The  older 
name  of  the  Biguyduce  River  appears  to  have  been  Matchebiguntus. 
The  attempt  of  an  eminent  Indian  scholar  to  identify  this  word 
with  Williamson's  French  Major  is  creditable. 


,1  ■ 


AN  INTERVIEW  BEFORE  BREAKFAST.       15 

Constance  cast  her  eyes  downward,  when  the  sun 
shone  full-blaze  athwart  the  eastern  waters ;  and  she 
forgot  her  father's  house  in  the  broad  daylight. 

It  could  not  but  occur  to  her  that,  after  all,  it 
evinced  good  judgment  that  she  had  sailed  in  one 
of  her  father's  ships  to  a  new  world,  to  forget  that 
dream  which  had  taken  definite  shape,  after  having 
haunted  her  for  more  than  ten  years,  a  dream  of 
being  wedded  to  one  whom  she  would  have  loved  if 
he  had  not  been,  as  she  believed,  an  utter  stranger  to 
her  God.  The  Huguenot  faith,  her  own  faith,  not 
that  of  another,  would  not  allow  her  to  love  one,  or 
rather  link  her  destiny  to  one,  who  did  not  make  God 
the  supreme  choice  of  his  soul.  Of  all  the  selfish, 
idolatrous,  papistic,  Jesuitical  persons  she  ever  saw, 
her  would-be  lover  was  the  best.  She  would  never 
confess  to  herself  that  she  loved  him ;  and  she  left 
the  country  to  be  rid  of  him.  He,  apparently,  was 
fully  devoted  to  her,  protesting  his  affection  in  strange 
heart-felt  tones,  which  she  had  not  yet  heard  from 
the  business-like  professional  lover  Charles  la  Tour. 

She  thought  to  herself,  bending  her  steps  toward 
the  great  hearth  where  her  breakfast  was  smoking,  — 
"  Charles  la  Tour  is  a  Protestant ;  and  I  think  that 
he  is  religious.  He  is  gifted,  and  apparently  devout, 
in  prayer.  He  is  fluently  religious ;  and  I  shall  not 
^'soon  believe  that  his  Vaudois  blood  has  been  all 
sopped  up  by  the  furs  of  Acadia.  I  did  wisely  in 
this  new  world  to  take  the  world  as  I  find  it,  and 
to  marry  in  the  line  of  my  religious  duty ;  and  I  have 


fr 


/^/. 


16 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


made  my  vows  to  God  that  I  will  be  to  my  husband 
a  minister  of  good.  I  have  taken  him  for  better  or 
for  worse ;  and,  if  it  is  for  worae,  I  am  sure  it  will  be 
my  fault." 

Her  train  of  pious  and  wifely  reflection  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  sound  of  a  ship's  gun.  Wheeling  from 
her  solitary  seat  at  the  table,  she  saw  two  English 
ships  heavily  armed,  which  had  just  rounded  the 
western  headland ;  and  were  now  standing  in  for  the 
fort.  For  the  sake  of  running  before  the  wind,  and 
avoiding  the  islets  of  the  lower  Bay  on  the  east,  they 
had  ascended  the  western  channel  by  moonlight. 

Constance  despatched  at  once  a  messenger  to  her 
husband.  There  might  be  work  in  hand  for  the 
King's  Lieutenant.  These  men-of-war  had  appeared 
suddenly,  like  Megunticut  thunder-clouds;  canvas 
clouds  illuminated  by  the  sun,  but  filled  with 
lightnings  and  the  peal  of  battle. 

When  the  ships  hove  to,  and  lowered  two  boats, 
Constance  went  toward  the  landing  alone  to  meet 
them.  An  English  baronet  was  in  the  foremost  boat, 
with  the  English  flag  flying  over  his  head. 

Constance  waved  her  hand ;  and  her  gunner,  upon 
the  platform  fronting  Pentagotiet  ^  next  the  sea,  fired 
a  shot  across  the  baronet's  bows ;  and  his  men  peaked 


^  Pemetigoet  or  Pentegoet  was  the  name  given  by  Champlain,  in 
1605,  to  the  river  which  had  been  known  to  the  Indians  as  Norem- 
bega.  Wheeler  (History  of  Castine,  Bangor,  1875,  p.  14)  thinks 
that  Pentagotiet  is  a  combination  of  Indian  and  French,  meaning 
entrance  to  the  river. 


#'■ 


AN  INTERVIEW  BEFORE  BREAKFAST.      17 

their  oars.  "While  the  boat  swung  round  to  the  wind 
upon  the  uneasy  tide,  Constance,  putting  her  hand  to 
her  mouth  for  a  speaking-trumpet,  spoke  in  clear 
penetrating  musical  English, — 

"  Lay  your  head  off  shore ;  and  land  the  baronet 
from  the  stern,  then  pull  off.  I  will  see  him  alone 
under  a  flag  of  truce.  If  you  delay,  I  will  blow  you 
out  of  the  water." 

She  mised  her  hand,  and  another  shot  crossed  the 
bows  of  the  boat.  When,  in  the  next  uplifting  of  her 
hand,  she  flaunted  her  white  kerchief  to  the  breeze, 
the  baronet  condescended  to  land  from  the  stern ;  and 
the  boat  and  flag  pulled  off,  and  Constance  was  alone 
with  the  stranger,  who  also  held  out  a  flag  of  truce.. 

The  English  baronet  had  an  important  communi- 
cation to  make  to  Chevalier  la  Tour. 

"My  husband  cannot  be  interrupted  upon  trivial 
business,  at  this  hour,"  replied  Constance.  "  He  will 
see  you  later,  if  he  thinks  it  important.  Your  present 
business  I  will  attend  to." 

The  baronet  rubbed  his  eyes,  and  he  would  have 
ripped  out  an  oath  or  two  if  he  had  been  an  English- 
man ;  being  a  Frenchman,  he  took  out  his  snuff-box, 
and  offered  it  to  Madame  la  Tour,  with  a  profusion 
of  compliments,  which  led  her  to  abandon  her  new- 
world  direct  Anglo-Saxon  method  of  addressing  one 
whom  she  had  supposed  to  be  a  Saxon. 

It  was  her  father-in-law,  Claude  la  Tour,  returned 
with  her  husband's  commission  as  Lieutenant  General 
of  Acadia. 

2 


18 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


"  Will  the  baronet  be  so  good  as  to  produce  the 
commission,  as  a  voucher  for  his  personal  identity  as 
Claude  la  Tour  ? " 

The  baronet  hesitated.  Should  he  negotiate  with 
a  woman  ? 

"  Will  the  baronet  be  so  good  as  to  recall  his  boat, 
that  he  may  get  into  it  under  his  own  flag,  that  I 
may  proceed  to  blow  him  out  of  the  water  ? " 

The  baronet  looked  into  the  deep  dark  eyes  of 
Madame  la  Tour. 

"  It  would  be  less  work  to  exhibit  the  commission ; 
which  I  will  do  with  pleasure,"  he  remarked,  after 
looking  at  eyes  which  never  quailed. 

The  baronet  accepted  his  fair  enemy's  invitation 
to  breakfast,  when  satisfied  that  his  countrywoman 
was  his  son's  wife.  But  first  he  sent  to  the  ship 
for  his  own  wife ;  whom  he  had  picked  up  in  Eng- 
land, a  maid  of  honor  to  Queen  Henrietta. 

The  sound  of  the  great  guns  had  outstripped  the 
messengers  of  Constance,  and  Charles  la  Tour  —  now 
indeed  Lieutenant  General  —  returned  in  season  to 
breakfast  with  his  step-mother,  and  his  de-national- 
ized father,  and  his  own  faithful  friend  and  defender 
Constance  of  La  Rochelle. 


.  WREATHS  OF  SMOKE, 


19 


A'*^ 


III. 


•i 


WREATHS  OF   SMOKE. 


TVTOTHING  could  exceed  the  self-complacency  of 
■^^  Charles  la  Tour  except  the  self-complacency 
of  his  father.  They  were  neither  of  them  self-con- 
ceited men  —  far  from  that.  Self-conceit  implies 
something  notional,  almost  whimsical ;  but  the  La 
Tours  were  thoroughly  well-balanced,  and  the  better 
balanced  they  were,  the  better  satisfied  they  were 
with  themselves. 

Charles  la  Tour  had  a  faculty  of  extracting  from 
all  circumstances  an  immense  amount  of  downright 
happiness.  If  the  marines  told  a  true  story,  when 
they  said  that  La  Tour  killed  an  Englishman  in  order 
to  steal  a  ship,  he  undoubtedly  did  it  with  joy  in  his 
heart,  and  a  smile  at  his  own  deftness  in  doing  it. 
If  he  had  a  long  and  bitter  contest  with  a  rival,  he 
enjoyed  every  minute  of  the  time.  The  fun  of  fight- 
ing was  exquisite.  Then  his  skin  was  stuffed  full  of 
satisfaction  when  he  delicately  nibbled  at  sweetmeats 
or  sipped  wine  with  Governor  Winthrop.  And  his 
conversations  with  Constance,  whom  he  never  to  her 
dying  day  understood,  were  sources  of  rare  pleasure ; 
as  if,  for  the  moment,  his  soul  bathed  in  the  pure 


20 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


empyrean  of  a  higher  range  of  thought  than  he  had 
known  since  his  mother  died  at  Saint  Martin  on  R^, 
when  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  the  day  before  his 
father  sailed  for  Acadia. 

This  happy  disposition  kept  in  subordination  his 
curiosity  to  know  just  how  his  Vaudois  father  had 
become  a  Britisher  in  crimson  and  gold. 

As  they  lighted  their  tobacco  for  an  after-breakfast 
stroll  along  shore,  between  the  thick-set  hackma- 
tacks and  the  Bay,  the  father  and  son  chaffered  each 
other  upon  their  respective  marriages. 

"  How  came  you,  my  dear  father,  to  find  such  a 
fair  faced  and  attractive  Frenchwoman  among  the 
fogs  of  England?" 

"  She  discovered  me,  my  son,  by  my  French  accent. 
It  was  a  love  match  on  her  part.  And  I  responded 
heartily,  since  the  Queen  was  very  fond  of  her,  and  it 
strengthened  my  position  at  court.  And  my  wife  was 
anxious  to  see  our  new  world,  which  I  am  going  to 
turn  over  to  England." 

"  To  England  ? "  replied  Charles,  almost  forgetful  of 
his  even  poise.  T^en  recollecting  himself,  he  added, 
"  That  would  indeed  be  very  fine.  But  how  do  you 
propose  to  do  it  ? " 

"  I  have,"  said  the  father,  "  not  only  a  baronetcy, 
but  a  land  grant,  big  enough  to  make  your  heart 
jump,  to  give  to  you,  which  will  be  much  better  than 
the  Lieutenant  General's  commission  that  Louis  XIII. 
has  sent  you.  Acadia  will  certainly  be  lost  to  France 
before  the  present  hostilities  terminate." 


WREATHS  OF  SMOKE. 


21 


"But  do  you  think,  father,  that  I  would  be  a 
traitor  to  my  country  for  a  baronetcy,  a  few  acres  of 
bushes  in  what  you  propose  to  call  Nova  Scotia  ? " 

"  Traitor !  country  !  You  have  no  country  but  the 
soil  your  feet  cover,  and  what  you  own  in  our  new 
world,"  replied  the  father.  "You  can  dissemble  to 
the  French  King.  I  learned  in  the  Maritime  Alps  to 
call  no  man  my  king  except  as  I  could  make  kings 
my  subjects.  What  kings  are  for  is  to  help  the  La 
Tour  family.  Louis  and  Charles  are  both  my  ser- 
vants, and  yours  too,  if  you  will  make  them  such." 
And  he  rattled  his  sword  in  its  scabbard  when  he 
said  this. 

"Indeed,  indeed,"  answered  the  Lieutenant  Governor 
of  Acadia,  "was  it  not  upon  the  very  ground  that 
I  was  to  keep  Acadia  for  France,  that  I  based  my 
petition  to  my  king  ? " 

"Are  you  then  settled  that  you  will  not  surrender?" 
asked  the  baronet,  in  alarm.  "Do  you  know,  sir, 
since  you  claim  to  be  a  man  of  honor,  that  I  obtained 
this  land -grant  and  a  baronetcy  for  you,  and  for  my- 
self also,  upon  my  pledge  that  you  would  surrender 
this  fort  to  His  Britannic  Majesty  ?  And  do  you 
know,  sir,  that  these  men-of-war  have  crossed  the 
ocean  for  the  express  purpose  of  taking  possession  of 
this  fort  ?  I  entreat  you  to  surrender,  and  keep  the 
engagement  I  have  made  for  you  with  my  king,  and 
my  newly  adopted  country.  I  throw  myself  upon 
your  clemency.  I  plead  as  a  father  with  his  own 
son." 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


% 


■A 


**  I  iBifleed  love  you,  and  recognize  my  obligation  to 
you  who  have  given  me  life  itself;  and  I  value  the 
honor  you  have  brought  nie  from  a  foreign  prince ; 
but  4-  must  seek  the  approval  of  my  own  king.  Do 
you  suppose  me  capable  of  betraying  the  truRt  ^y 
king  has  placed  in  me  ?  What  is  my  life  wo'-^V  v  Jr  ss 
I  can  be  trusted  ?  France  depends  upon  lae  lo  iioid  * 
this  fort."  So  replied  the  son  with  no  ii'mill  indig- 
nation and  emphasis. 

"  Did  you  ever  know  a  French  king  to  b*^  grate- 
ful ? "  asked  the  father.  "  My  word  for  it,  he  will 
have  you  in  the  Bastile  to  please  some  favorite, 
before  you  are  done  with  him." 

"It  will  never  be  my  fault,  if  he  forgets  me," 
responded  the  King's  Lieutenant.  "But  it  will  be 
my  fault  if  I  do  not  do  what  I  know  to  be  right. 
My  conscience  is  in  it." 

Approaching  now  the  shade  where  Constance  was 
sitting  with  her  mother-in-law,  Charles  said  to  his 
father, 

"  If  you  have  no  other  proposals  to  make,  you  may 
as  well  send  away  your  ships  of  war,  and  take  your 
charming  bride  and  settle  down  with  me  to  make 
money  out  of  the  Inc^ian  Tu^-trade,  and  keep  along 
with  Lhe  cod-fishinf  w  ^n^  in  *''Ui  Biencourt. 
Perhaps,  however,"  lic  added,  —  turning  about  to 
renew  the  pacing  up  and  the  pacing  down,  and 
changing  his  tone  from  that  of  a  warrior  to  that  of 
an  accomplished  diplomat,  —  "if  I  had  married  a 
Franco- Anglican  wife,  I  might  talk  as  you  do.     But 


WREATHS   OF  SMOKE. 


23 


'^onstdnct  of  La  Rochelle,  the  daughter  of  Bernon, 
knows  nothing  of  the  independent  spirit  you  brought 
from  the  Alpine  crags  looking  into  Italy;  au'l  she  is 
French  to  her  heart's  core." 

"Ha,  ha,"  continued  Charges,  "  1  see  by  the  twi  nkle 
in  your  eyes,  that  you  already  laugh  at  nic  for  havi  '^ 
married  a  wife  who  is  more  of  a  man  than  T  an. 
But  I  assure  you,  upon  my  honor,  that  I  niarri  i  her 
for  soldierly  and  statesman-like  qualities.  Vnd  si.  has 
made  me  swear  by  a  great  oath  that  I  will  set  up  the 
throne  of  France  upon  the  ^^anks  of  the  Penobscot,  \ 
the  Saint  John,  and  the  n.  iring  tides  of  Fundy." 

"  And  did  you  swear,  my  ^on  ?    I  am  duly  proud 
you,  for  being  of  a  piece  witi   your  father.    I  see  tha 
you  on  your  part  intend  to  eurn  the  approval  of  youi 
king;  and  have  me  on  my  p.irt  hold  our  titles  and 
our  land  grant.     Is  not  this  what  you  really  mean, 
down  at  the  bottom  of  your  eyns  ? " 

Charles  and  his  father  looked  calmly  into  each 
other's  eyes;  as  if  they  took  d  light  in  contemplat- 
ing each  his  own  image  reflecteii  in  the  eyes  of  the 
other. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  they  sh*  ok  hands  upon  it ; 
and  turning,  walked  towards  the  fort. 

"You  were  speaking  of  your  wife,"  said  the  baronet. 
"  Does  she  not  fear  the  power  of  the  Jesuits  ? " 

"  Yes ;  she  thinks  they  will,  for  the  present,  control 
the  Saint  Lawrence.  But  in  thifc  part  of  Acadia, 
she  has,  —  so  far  as  I  can  discern  what  she  really 
does  intend  to  do,  —  a  settled  purpose  to  establish  a 


24 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Huguenot  colony  upon  these  eastern  shores  of  New 
France ;  and  if  she  does,  she  will  make  these  strag- 
gling outskirts  of  the  world  the  match  of  old  France 
for  the  love  of  country,  able  to  maintain  her  rights 
in  the  great  struggle  that  must  come  between  France 
and  Ensrland  for  America.    Of  that  I  am  satisfied." 

"And  now,  sir,"  added  Charles  la  Tour,  looking 
somewhat  sternly  at  his  father,  "I  believe  that 
we  understand  each  other.  You  and  I  are  for  the 
La  Tours  against  all  kings  and  all  nations  and  all 
religions." 

Upon  this,  the  baronet  pulled  out  of  his  travelling- 
pocket  the  land  grant,  representing  a  magnificent  strip 
of  country  fifteen  leagues  inland,  along  the  coast  for 
fifty  leagues  from  Fundy  to  Mirliguesche.^ 

"Yes,  I  think  we  will  take  this  land,"  said  the 
Lieutenant  of  France.  "We  shall  want  for  the  La 
Tours  all  that  we  can  get  from  both  the  kings.  I 
think  it  is  now  settled  between  us,  that  you  will  be 
the  friend  and  patron  of  Charles  I.,  and  keep  this  land 
he  has  given  into  your  charge ;  and  that  I  am  to  be 
the  friend  of  Louis  XIIL,  and  take  all  he  gives  me." 

"  Allow  me  to  embrace  you,  my  son." 

"This  arrangement,  my  honored  father,  will  of 
course  involve  a  public  separation  of  our  interests, 
which  will  appear  to  others  most  painful,  to  say 
nothing  of  its  being  strange.  "We  must  fight  to 
maintain  our  respective  rights;  but  as  long  as  wo 

*  From  Yarmouth  to  Lunenburg. 


II 


'  II' 


WREATHS   OF  SMOKE. 


25 


have  come  to  this  private  understanding,  the  world 
may  wonder." 

At  this  point,  they  had  come  so  near  the  place 
where  their  wives  were  conversing,  that  they  again 
turned  about.  Ascending  a  slight  elevation,  Charles 
la  Tour  threw  away  his  half-burned  tobacco,  and 
stood  firmly  upon  both  legs,  looking  every  inch  like 
the  representative  of  a  king,  and  pointed  to  the 
southwest  over  the  Penobscot  Bay:  — 

"  The  Saxons  are  founding  cities  and  planting  an 
empire;  and  those  who  are  descended  from  Roman 
soldiers  and  ancient  Gauls  will  begin  from  this  day 
forward  relatively  to  lose  ground  in  the  world,  and  do 
less  for  advancing  civilization,  unless  they  seize  on  this 
new  continent  and  hold  it  vigorously  with  both  hands. 
At  least,  this  is  what  my  wife  says.  Under  the  pre- 
tence of  fur-trading,  and  marrying  me,  and  the  con- 
verting—  as  she  calls  it — of  the  Indians,  she  expects 
to  take  the  stifled  Huguenots  out  of  France,  and  bring 
them  hitherward,  where  they  can  breathe  the  air  of 
freedom,  and  worship  God  in  the  wilderness,  and 
plant  the  industries  and  civilization  of  the  Latin  race 
upon  a  new  continent." 

"  That  would  please  the  spirits  of  the  dead  patriots 
of  La  Rochelle,"  answered  the  father.  "The  Due  de 
Rohan  and  his  compatriots  said,  that  France  was  fast 
losing  its  grip  upon  the  world  by  driving  out  of  her 
borders  the  best  blood  of  the  nation.  He  desired 
to  keep  it  in  the  country,  by  erecting  a  Huguenot 
republic.    Failing  in  that,  nothing  could  be  better 


26 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


than  to  ship  the  Huguenots  out  of  France  in  bulk, 
and  build  up  a  New  France  in  America." 

"  I  have  been  so  long  out  of  France,"  replied  the 
younger  La  Tour,  "  and  I  have  had  so  little  news  in 
your  absence,  that  I  am  glad  to  learn  your  views. 
Constance  represents  that  no  small  part  of  the  wealth, 
the  business  capacity,  the  intellectual  force  of  France, 
have  turned  toward  Calvinism ;  and  that  the  Roman 
Church,  led  by  the  Jesuits,  proposes  to  destroy  the 
very  sinews  of  the  nation  itself,  and  leave  a  mere 
ilabby  France,  loyal  to  Eome.  She  is  al!  on  fire  to 
bring  these  Protestants  to  America.  It  .ould  make 
your  blood  boil,  father,  to  hear  Consr<auce  talk  about 
it.  Pray,  do  not  speak  of  England  and  English  forts 
and  English  baronetcies  and  English  land-grants. 
We  will  keep  the  land,  to  be  sure.  There  are  no 
English  here  to  object.  There  is  nobody  in  the  whole 
country.  We  can  do  what  we  please.  We  will  send 
off  your  ships  of  war,  and  build  up  a  New  France." 

"  Ah,  I  see,"  replied  the  baronet.  "  You  have  fully 
submitted  yourself  to  your  wife ;  although  you  have 
not  been  married  a  month." 

"  I  am  proud  of  my  wife,"  said  the  son,  taking  his 
father  by  the  button.  "When  her  brother  died,  a 
year  ago,  I  took  her  into  partnership  at  once,  and  my 
business  almost  doubled.  My  self-gratulation  is  com- 
plete now  that  I  have  married  her.  She  will  make 
an  admirable  Queen  of  our  New  France,  when  we 
fill  it  with  Huguenots,  and  set  up  for  ourselves  in 
America." 


WBEATHS  OF  SMOKE. 


27 


"  Suppose,  however,"  retorted  his  father,  "  that  we 
compromise  the  situation,  and  bring  in  Scotch  settlers 
as  well  as  French.  The  chances  are,  that,  so  long  as 
France  and  England  are  liable  to  have  half-a-dozen 
wars  within  the  next  century,  Acadia  will  be  seized, 
whenever  hostilities  break  out,  by  the  King  who  does 
not  happen  to  own  it  at  the  time.  The  area  is  large, 
and  the  population  will  be  small  for  a  hundred  years. 
Then  when  the  kings  settle  their  quarrel,  Acadia  will 
be  played  like  a  card,  this  way  or  that,  as  will  best 
suit  the  game.  Under  such  conditions,  it  will  be 
handy  for  us,  the  La  Tours,  the  actual  settlers  of  the 
country,  the  only  rightful  kings  or  feudal  lords  of 
Acadia,  to  have  both  Scotch  and  French;  and  we 
ourselves  can  be  Scotch,  English,  French,  to  satisfy 
the  circumstances,  —  only  we  will  be  La  Tours,  and 
Acadians,  under  all  governments,  and  keep  our  rights 
by  the  nimbleness  of  our  wits." 

"  A  wise  father,  truly,"  remarked  Charles.  "  If 
you  represent  Charles  I.  and  Sir  William  Alexander, 
I  will  represent  Louis  the  Just;  and  we  will  both 
look  sharply  to  our  own  interests." 

So  was  made  the  celebrated  La  Tour,  French, 
Scotch,  English,  Catholic,  Protestant,  Acadian  treaty. 

Having  paced  up,  and  paced  down,  and  trodden 
the  June  grass,  and  ground  it  under  their  heels,  and 
fingered  the  fresh  tips  of  hackmatack  boughs,  and 
looked  out  upon  the  sunny  waters,  to  their  heart's 
content,  they  now  returned  to  the  society  of  their 
gossips,  —  Constance  and  Henrietta. 


\ 


I 


k 


r 


28 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


IV. 


THEIR  GOSSIPS. 

/^LAUDE  LA  TOUR'S  London  wife  was  the 
^-^  daughter  of  a  native  of  Languedoc,  one  of  the 
inferior  order  of  French  nobles,  whose  titles  came  to 
them  through  the  royal  grant  to  municipal  office,  on 
account  of  some  old-time  service  to  the  king.  Her 
father  and  his  bride  had  escaped  to  England  upon  the 
occasion  of  the  Toulousian  League  riot  in  January 
1589.  Henrietta  was  little  older  than  Constance; 
and,  at  this  obscure  fort  in  the  wilderness,  they  struck 
up  at  once  a  fine  friendship. 

Constance  found  that  any  Gallican  sympathies 
which  Henrietta  might  have  had  by  inheritance,  had 
so  suffered  from  the  wrongs  rehearsed  by  French 
refugees  in  London,  that  she  was  glad  to  carry  an 
English  heart  under  her  French  features.  The  two 
wives,  however,  established  a  basis  of  confidence, 
when  they  discussed  the  La  Tours. 

"Claude  la  Tour,"  said  the  late  maid  of  honor, 
"  came  to  London  a  prisoner.^     My  father  and  Pierre 


1  The  prisoner  of  Sir  David  Kirk,  who  upon  his  failure  to  take 
Quebec,  cruised  for  the  French  fleet  which  was  bringing  supplies  to 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  Port  Royal,  capturing  eighteen  ships,  and  one 


THEIR   GOSSIPS. 


29 


Gaudet  knew  about  his  family  in  La  Tour  in  Pied- 
mont. My  father,  when  a  child,  was  once  a  night's 
guest  at  his  mother's  house  in  La  Tour." 

"  It  must  have  been  a  wild  place,  from  my  hus- 
band's account  of  it,"  said  Constance.  "  His  grand- 
mother's home  was  in  the  Val  Angrogna.  It  was  all 
overhung  by  jagged  and  majestic  mountains." 

"  Indeed,"  replied  Henrietta,  "  I  never  heard  my 
husband  allude  to  the  sublimity,  He  has  however 
often  spoken  of  the  beauty  of  his  child  home.  I 
have  dreamed  of  it  as  I  would  of  fairy-land, — with 
vineyards  and  gardens  upon  the  river-side,  fruit-trees 
and  groves  of  pine,  pastures  tinkling  with  sweet 
bells,  musical  cascades,  and  a  world  of  wild  flowers 
humming  with  bees." 

"How  strange  this  is,"  said  Constance,  "I  never 
heard  of  all  that.  Probably  Charles  does  not  admire 
beauty,  although  he  professes  to  go  into  ecstasies,  if 
I  give  him  a  flower ;  I  think  he  does  not  care  for 
anything  but  the  Jieur  de  lis  of  my  country."  Say- 
ing this  she  looked  closely  in  Henrietta's  face  to  see 


hundred  and  thirty-five  pieces  of  ordnance,  and  an  immense  store 
of  ammunition.  La  Tour  the  senior,  with  his  son's  commission 
as  the  Acadian  Lieutenant  of  France  in  his  pocket,  appears  to  have 
made  the  most  of  his  voyage  to  England  in  exercising  his  blandish- 
ments upon  the  tough  old  Scotchman,  his  captor,  who  subsequently 
introduced  him  to  Sir  William  Alexander,  as  just  the  man  suited 
to  his  service.  La  Tour's  long  residence  in  Acadia,  and  his  mani- 
fest ability  made  him  most  useful  to  Sir  William.  His  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Scotch  knight  is  alluded  to  in  Hanney'a  Acadia^ 
p.  117. 


r 


30 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


•whether  there  was  the  slightest  tinge  of  French  blood 
in  it.  "  I  have,  however,  often  heard  him  speak  of 
the  way  in  which  the  Vaudois  maintained  themselves 
for  a  hundred  years  in  those  mountain  heights,  falling 
like  the  avalanche  upon  hosts  of  enemies  beneath 
them." 

"  It  must  be,"  replied  Henrietta,  "  that  Sir  Claude 
la  Tour  does  not  propose  to  frighten  me  by  the 
sounds  of  war,  notwithstanding  the  array  of  guns  we 
carry ;  for  he  never  once  lisped  a  word  relating  to  the 
fierce  crags  of  Mount  Vandalin,  save  that  they  looked 
out  upon  the  rich  plains,  the  corn  lands,  the  mead- 
ows, and  vineyards  of  Piedmont." 

"  And  did  he  never  tell  you,"  asked  Constance,  "  of 
the  towering  walls  of  Castelluzzo,  where  his  grand- 
mother was  hidden  in  a  cave,  let  down  to  it  by  a 
rope  ladder  on  the  face  of  the  precipice  ?  It  makes 
my  heart  hot  when  I  think  how  near  we  are  to  the 
blood-red  Alps.  Did  your  husband  never  tell  you 
that  his  mother's  jewelled  fingers  were  cut  off  by 
Spanish  swords  one  Sunday  morning,  when  La  Tour 
was  plundered  in  the  name  of  the  pope  ?  " 

"  No,"  answered  Henrietta  fingering  her  rings, "  but 
I  got  it  out  of  him  that  his  father  was  a  sort  of^ 
Protestant  highway-robber,  —  if  that  is  anything  to 
be  proud  of." 

"Outlaws,  I  think  they  called  themselves,"  said 
Constance.  "They  started  out,  I  have  heard,  after 
their  fracas  with  that  braggadocio  priest  IJbertin 
Braida;  and  for  years  they  kept  the  Vaudois  val- 


THEIR   GOSSIPS. 


31 


leys  from  going  to  sleep  under  the  tyranny  of  the 
times." 

"  But,  why,"  asked  Henrietta,  "  shall  we  bring  to 
this  new  world  all  these  ancestral  woes  ?  You  can 
hardly  tell  my  sense  of  freedom  in  breathing  the  air 
of  America.  It  is  much  as  if  I  had  entered  the 
borders  of  Paradise.  And  I  should  think  so,  were  it 
not  for  these  wicked-looking  guns,  and  those  Tarratine 
redskins." 

"  These  savages  and  hostile  guns  must  help  decide 
who  owns  America,"  replied  Constance,  "  before  we 
can  build  a  paradise  upon  our  beautiful  rivers. 

"  You  would  little  believe  it  to  be  Paradise,  if  the 
Jesuit  fathers  should  gain  here  the  mastership,  as 
they  did  in  Savoy,  when  they  seized  your  hus- 
band's playmate  Neveau  ;  took  him  from  his  father's 
house  to  their  Turin  convent,  then  shipped  him  to 
the  Indies,  from  which  never  returned  even  his  echo. 

"  I  should  weary  you,  indeed  I  should,  were  I  to 
tell  you  how  dear  these  guns  are  to  me.  We  pro- 
pose to  have  a  country. 

"  I  sometimes  believe,"  she  added,  looking  half 
timidly  into  the  sparkling  eyes  of  Henrietta,  "  that  I 
am  engaged  in  founding  a  nation.  Aside  from  a 
handful  of  your  countrymen  in  Virginia,  and  the 
small  settlements  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the 
Papists  who  claim  that  noblest  of  all  rivers  the 
St.  Lawrence,  there  is  no  America.  And  if  I  can 
prepare  the  way  for  a  Huguenot  republic,  Acadia 
will  have  an  honorable  future." 


—I 


r 


32 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


"  The  Due  de  Rohan,"  observed  Henrietta,  "  tried 
that  in  France,  did  he  not  ? " 

"  France  was  no  place  for  it,"  answered  Constance, 
her  lips  suddenly  losing  color.  •'  It  would  have 
been  wiser  to  have  taken  the  Protestant  population 
bodily  out  of  France,  and  brought  them  here.  At 
this  distance,  we  could  have  defied  the  world  in 
arms."  These  closing  words  were  uttered  in  a  voice 
strangely  agitated;  and  with  eyelids  closing  over 
their  tears. 

"  Do  you  know,"  asked  Henrietta,  without  noticing 
her  companion's  face,  "  that  Sir  Claude  la  Tour  is 
now  engaged  in  this  very  work  of  planting  a  Protes- 
tant people  here  ? " 

"  Pardon  my  interruption,"  answered  Constance 
with  an  effort.  "  You  had  begun  to  tell  me  of  Sir 
William,  when  we  made  our  conversational  trip  to 
the  Alps." 

"  When  Claude  la  Tour  was  released  from  prison 
by  my  father's  interest  at  court ;  and  when  His 
Majesty  and  Sir  William  Alexander  who  had  the 
royal  patent  of  Acadia,  knew  the  La  Tour  connection 
with  the  new  world,  and  their  respectable  rank  in 
France,  they  made  advances  to  him  at  once  to  plant 
Scotch  colonists,  and  to  seize  upon  the  country  — 
with  your  husband's  consent,"  —  said  Henrietta, 
speaking  rapidly,  with  sharp  eyes  fixed  on  Constance. 

"  My  husband  will  never  consent,"  said  Constance 
firmly,  in  a  low  musical  tone. 

"  That  depends,"  replied  the  late  lady  of  honor  to 


THEIR   QOSSiPS. 


33 


the  English  queen.  "  Did  not  our  English  naviga- 
tors discover  Acadia  ?  In  years  of  peace,  of  course 
we  could  not  enforce  our  claims  and  take  our  country 
from  your  French  settlers.  But  when  Charles  I. 
assumed  the  defence  of  La  Rochelle,  the  way  opened 
to  seize  upon  New  France ;  and  the  King  employed 
my  husband  for  this  purpose." 

Henrietta  hardly  noticed  the  effect  of  her  words. 
Constance,  who  had  been  ready  to  sink  with  anguish, 
now  seemed  likely  to  faint.  She  rallied  a  moment 
in  the  lull  of  conversation  ;  and  her  eyes  were  fixed. 
She  saw,  far  away  over  the  tossing  leagues  of  sea,  no 
old-time  lover,  but  her  father's  desolate  house.  Her 
father  had  been  slain  early  in  the  siege.  Her  mother, 
and  the  entire  house,  save  her  youngest  brother,  a 
mere  child,  had  perished  of  that  terrible  famine 
which  heaped  up  the  dead  upon  the  walks  and  in 
the  passage-ways  until  twenty-five  thousand  out  of  a 
population  of  thirty  thousand  had  perished.  She 
saw  those  massive,  impregnable  walls,  which  had 
made  her  native  city  the  pride  of  the  Protestant 
world,  crumble  under  the  edict  of  that  very  king 
who  had  now  sent  a  commission  to  her  husband. 

But,  for  all  this,  her  heart  faltered  not ;  she  was 
loyal  to  France,  that  ideal  France  which  is  dearer 
than  life  to  every  true  child  of  the  nation.  She  be- 
lieved that  there  might,  even  yet,  be  gathered  a  peo- 
ple, persecuted  at  home,  who  should  build  in  the 
eastern  portions  of  America  a  French  State  with 
more  freedom  if  less  sunshine. 

8 


34 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


Henrietta  had  ceased  to  speak.  She  had  placed 
her  hand  softly  within  the  palm  of  Constance.  Her 
full  warm  English  ])lood  imparted  new  life.  Her 
English  eyes  looked  fully  into  the  lustrous  eyes 
which  the  ancestors  of  Constance  bad  brought  to  her 
out  of  Italy. 

Henrietta'  knew  too  well  what  visions  her  com- 
panion was  conjuring  np  across  the  waste  of  waters. 
—  "  Constance,  my  dear  one,  the  world  is  new,  not 
old.  It  is  ours  to  win  the  battles  of  the  future. 
"We  cannot  blanch  our  checks  with  tears  for  the 
world's  wrongs,  —  or  even  mourn  unduly  for  our 
own  dead.  —  Look  at  your  husband,  your  possibilities 
of  life.  How  manly  he  appears,  pacing  up  and 
down  with  liis  father." 

Taking  both  ha  ids  of  Constance  within  her  own 
magnetic  palms,  she  added,  —  "Did  I  not  begin  to 
tell  you,  my  love,  about  my  acquaintance  with 
Claude  la  Tour ;  how  he  sought  me,  and  pestered  me 
out  of  my  life  to  marry  him  ?  Of  course,  I  did  not 
want  to;  and  I  would  not.  But  my  queen  set  in, 
and  my  mother  set  in,  and  I  yielded.  I  sometimes 
think  that  queens  and  Frenchwomen  have  queer 
notions,  —  as  if  marriage  were  to  be  at  the  call  of 
convenience,  not  love." 

Constance  drew  a  long  sigh,  the  first  since  the  bit- 
ter day  in  which  came  the  crushing  news  of  the  fall 
of  La  Roclielle  and  her  father's  house,  —  the  very 
day  her  brother  died  at  Port  Eoyal,  —  the  very  day 
she   first  met   Charles   J^a  Tour,  when  he   was   so 


I 


THEIR   GOSSIPS. 


35 


thoughtful  and  kind  to  her  at  the  bedside  of  the  dy- 
ing and  tlie  new  grave  in  the  wilderness.  It  was 
also  the  last  sigh.  During  all  the  years  next  follow- 
ing she  kept  her  respiration  in  close  control,  —  as  if 
the  iron  in  the  blood  of  her  family  stock  during 
some  ages  had  finally  asserted  itself ;  indeed  she  kept 
it,  and  did  not  sigh  upon  that  fatal  and  darkening 
day  so  soon  following,  when  her  childhood  lover  ap- 
peared riding  upon  the  morning  seas  toward  sunrise. 

"I  could  not  help  loving  Charles  la  Tour,"  said 
Constance ;  "  and  it  did  not  seem  to  me  a  marriage 
of  convenience." 

Then,  —  so  long  waj  it  since  she  had  seen  the  face 
of  an  intelligent  and  sympathizing  woman  in  her 
desolate  wilderness  life,  cut  off  as  she  was  forever 
from  any  old  home  confidants  over  sea,  —  she  con- 
tinued, as  if  she  would  tell  all  that  she  had  in  her 
heart,  and  be  as  frank  with  another  as  with  herself : 

"  I  should  I  am  sure  have  loved  differently  upon 
the  coast  of  France,  if  another  Charles,  —  my  Charles 
the  First,"  she  said  with  a  grim  attempt  to  smile 
under  her  tears,  "  had  not  been  already  wedded  soul 
and  body  to  the  Jesuits  who  educated  him  after  the 
death  of  his  parents.  He  loved  me  devotedlj^,  but 
he  hated  my  religion.  He  was  taught  to  do  it.  He 
preferred  the  Jesuits  to  me.  I  should  have  given 
him  my  whole  heart  at  once,  if  he  had  returned  my 
gift ;  but  the  Jesuits  had  his  heart  in  safe  keeping. 
—  Perhaps  he  will  be  more  manly,  and  break  away 
from  them  sometime." 


rfT 


r 


36 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


i 

■■*!  I 


■ 


At  this  point  Constance  would  have  sighed,  but 
she  had  made  up  her  mind  never  to  express  herself 
again  by  that  symbol.  As  it  was,  she  stopped  short, 
and  fixed  her  eyes  upon  the  manly  beauty  of  Charles 
la  Tour,  as  he  paced  up  and  down  between  the  hack- 
matacks and  the  water. 

"  When  Ciiarles  la  Tour  asked  me  to  become  his 
wife,  he  snatched  me  from  the  depths  of  despair,  and 
gave  me  something  to  live  for.  My  best  child-friend 
had  developed  in  his  opening  manhood  into  a  con- 
firmed Jesuit,  threatening  to  take  priestly  orders  if  I 
should  not  marry  him.  My  city,  oh  my  native  city, 
my  home,  had  perished  of  starvation  under  a  cruel 
king,  who  could  never  batter  down  her  strong  walls. 
My  father's  house  had  tumbled  into  the  grave,  except 
my  baby  brother ;  and  I  fear  that  the  Jesuits  may 
get  control  of  him  as  they  did  of  Charles  de  Menou, 
whose  mother  was  the  daughter  of  a  Huguenot  house 
of  our  oldest  and  best  and  most  honored.  And  then 
my  brother  who  came  from  home  with  me  to  this 
new  country,  died  so  suddenly,  so  strangely.  It  all 
came  at  once.     The  world  fell  in  ruin  over  my  head. 

"Charles  la  Tour  then  appeared,  with  so  much 
that  was  noble  in  his  heart  and  life,  in  his  practical 
handling  of  this  world's  business.  He  was  devout. 
The  prayers  he  learned,  when  he  was  a  child  at  the 
school  of  Pra  du  Tour,  I  heard  him  repeat  in  tremu- 
lous tones,  as  we  kneeled  over  my  brother's  grave. 
I  could  not  help  becoming  his  wife.  T  believe  that 
he  loves  me  with  all  the  capacity  he  has  for  loving. 


THEIR   GOSSIPS. 


37 


ecome  liis 

jspair,  aud 

liild-friend 

Lito  a  con- 

Drders  if  I 

ative  city, 

ier  a  cruel 

'ong  walls. 

ive,  except 

[Suits  may 

ie  Menou, 

not  house 

And  then 

le  to  this 

It  all 

my  head. 

so   much 

practical 

IS  devout. 

Id  at  the 

in  tremu- 

r's  grave. 

ieve  that 

or  loving. 


His  heart  is,  however,  principally  in  his  great  ambi- 
tions for  pelf  and  power;  his  heart  throbs  for  me, 
whenever  it  is  at  leisure. 

"  I  sometimes  think,"  she  added  with  sunlight  in 
lier  eyes,  "  that  he  is  more  devoted  to  beaver-traps 
aud  tish-flalies  than  to. me;  and  then,  too,  he  dotes 
on  his  commission  which  your  husband,  the  baronet, 
has  just  brought  to  him." 

At  this  point,  the  approach  of  the  sauntering  son 
and  father  put  an  end  to  their  gossip. 

It  was  noteworthy  that  Charles  did  not  take  bis 
father  into  the  lort  at  breakfast  or  after. 


38 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


! 


V. 


it 


A   PATERNAL  AND   FILIAL  FIGHT. 


TT  7HEN"  it  came  nightfall,  the  light  upon  the 
^^  western  sea  was  dimmed  somewhat,  as 
Charles  la  Tour  reclined  upon  the  shelving  rocks 
with  Constance.  It  would  be  needful  for  him  m  fly- 
ing his  flag  at  daybreak  to  name  his  choice  between 
two  kings ;  but  he  and  his  father  had  no  occasion  to 
deceive  each  other,  —  they  understood  perfectly  what 
part  they  were  to  play.  Charles  had,  moreover,  to 
prepare  the  mind  of  Constance  for  some  modification 
of  her  views  relating  to  the  Scotch. 

"  How  did  you  like  your  mother-in-law,  Constance  ?" 

"Well  enough  for  an  English  woman.  She  no 
longer  loves  the  lilies  of  France.  She  is  very  good 
socially,  and  in  a  kind  sisterly  way ;  but  how  can  I 
bear  the  sight  of  her,  when  the  French  blood  in 
her  hand  is  treacherous,  and  she  would  change  our 
flag  ? " 

"  But  do  you  not  think  well  of  a  Scotch  colony  ? 
Heretofore  the  Scotch  and  French  have  sought 
alliance  with  each  other  against  England." 

"Charles  la  Tour,  or  Lieutenant  General  rather, 
the  good  representative  of  a  bad  king,  I  believe  down 


A   PATERNAL  AND  FILIAL  FIGHT. 


39 


apon  the          i 

what,    as          \ 

Lng  rocks          \ 

im  in  fly-           : 

I  between          \ 

ccasion  to           : 

ctly  what          j 

[•eover,  to          1 

(dification          ] 

''1 

istance?"          1 

She  no          J 

t^ery  good 

low  can  I          1 

blood  in          \ 

■ 

ange  our          ^ 

L  colony  ?          ■;, 

J    sought 

il  rather,         " 

jve  down 

1 

SI 

f 
^ 

r 

in  my  heart  —  I  wish  I  did  not  —  that  the  British 
Islands  will  control  America;  but  it  shall  not  be 
by  my  consent,  as  to  Acadia.  They  will  swarm  and 
cover  the  continent.  They  are  a  migrating  people. 
Let  them  go  south  to  New  England.  If  we  bring  in 
the  people,  we  bring  in  the  king;  and  I  am  not  ready 
to  abandon  New  France  for  New  Scotland." 

"  But  what  are  we  to  do,"  asked  the  husband,  "  if 
the  French  wish  to  stay  at  home  ?  To-day,  the  only 
ones  who  wish  to  emigrate  are  those  whose  lives  are 
made  a  terror  by  persecution." 

It  was  a  strange  sight  which  Constance  called  up 
from  over  the  sea,  as  she  replied,  "Would  that  I 
could  call  back  from  the  realms  of  the  dead  the 
twenty-five  thousand  martyrs  of  La  Rochelle.  With 
them  we  could  have  built  up  a  French  Protestant 
power,  which  would  have  used  the  magnificent  har- 
bors of  this  coast,  and  have  turned  the  falls  of  our 
rivers-  into  great  manufacturing  towns.  My  poor 
country  is  given  over  to  madness.  She  is  taking 
the  intelligent,  the  liberty-loving,  the  industrious, 
the  thrifty,  the  enterprising  among  her  people,  and 
scattering  them  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  I  would 
give  my  life — I  will  give  my  life  if  need  be  —  to  the 
gathering  here  of  a  handful,  who  will  make  Acadia 
the  seed-plot  of  a  thousand  generations,  where  the 
best  blood  of  France  may  show  what  it  can  do  in 
redeeming  the  world." 

"  But  our  Frenchman  John  Calvin,"  replied  Charles, 
"has    already  inoculated  the  Scotch,  through  John 


40 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Knox,  not  only  with  the  love  of  liberty,  but  with 
a  type  of  moral  character  new  even  to  Great 
Britain.  They  certainly  would  make  good  homes  in 
Acadia." 

"  I  am  not  objecting  to  them  as  good  people," 
answered  Constance,  "but  I  object  to  their  king. 
The  oats  and  the  bagpipes  I  could  put  up  with,  but 
Charles  Stuart,  never.  I  am  French  in  every  fibre. 
We  could  conquer  and  hold  no  small  part  of  the 
world,  in  any  cause  having  a  religious  basis,  if  our 
Huguenot  warriors  only  had  a  place  upon  which  to 
stand,  sacred  to  Protestant  liberty." 

"I  can  never  cease  to  be  glad  to  hear  you  talk 
about  a  French-Protestant  Eepublic  in  New  France," 
responded  Charles.  "  But  the  present  point  is  this, 
that  my  father  has  an  immense  land-grant  for  himself 
and  for  me  personally;  and  for  you  too,  for  your 
emigration  scheme,  where  your  settlers  can  be  safe 
under  the  La  Tours,  whoever  is  king.  It  must  -have 
occurred  to  you,  that  since  Acadia  is  half  as  large  as 
Old  France,  and  since  there  are  absolutely  no  French 
settlers  here,  except  our  own  family  and  our  retain- 
ers, that  it  will  be  difficult  to  hold  the  entire  area;  so 
that  Acadia  is  liable  to  change  hands,  back  and  forth 
a  good  many  times,  whenever  a  few  pieces  of  ord- 
nance float,  as  now,  toward  the  feeble  forts  of  this 
wilderness." 

"  On  this  account  we  will  fight  for  what  we  have," 
replied  Constance.  "  You  do  not  mean  to  hoist  the 
red  flag  of  England  at  daybreak  ?    How  can  you  do 


A  PATERNAL  AND  FILIAL  FIGHT. 


41 


it  with  the  King's  commission  in  your  hand?  Is 
your  father  still  to  be  recognized  as  your  father,  if  he 
is  a  traitor  to  his  king  ?  He  is  a  Piedmontese ;  let 
him  shift  kings,  if  that  suits  his  fancy.  But  were  I 
to  hoist  the  meteor  flag,  the  red  fire  of  England,  more 
than  thirty  generations  of  my  ancestors  would  arise 
from  their  graves  and  fight  for  the  flowers  of  the 
lily  of  France." 

The  white  flag  of  France  was  flying  at  the  break 
of  day.  It  was  first  seen  by  the  lookout  upon  the 
men-of-war. 

"  All  that  remains  for  us  is  to  take  the  fort  in  a 
fair  fight,  if  we  can,"  the  baronet  remarked  to  the 
commander  of  the  expedition.  "  Lieutenant  General 
La  Tour  pleads  a  prior  engagement  with  Louis  XIII., 
which  hinders  him  from  ratifying  the  agreements, 
which  in  his  absence  I  made  with  King  Charles  and 
Sir  William  Alexander  in  his  behalf.  If  we  cannot 
take  the  fort,  we  must  make  a  treaty  with  him  to 
protect  our  colonists,  and  to  cooperate  with  Sir  Wil- 
liam in  settling  up  the  country  with  Scotch,  which  the 
Lieutenant  General  is  disposed  to  do." 

If  the  Acadian  lobsters,  boiled  into  red  coats  for 
the  Britons'  breakfast,  were  three  or  even  four  feet 
long,  La  Honton  should  be  credited  with  the  report. 

When,  after  disposing  of  the  lobsters,  the  com- 
mander sought  to  disembark  a  body  of  his  soldiers, 
the  ships  were  struck  by  a  heavy  fire  from  the  fort ; 
to  which  the  British  oak  made  answer  by  a  lively 
cannonade,  —  the  first  shot  cutting  away  the   Pen- 


!   II 


I   i 


42 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


ir. 


:  w 


tagoiiet  flag-staff  with  its  folds  of  silk.^  This  was 
followed  by  hearty  English  cheers,  which  made  the 
bay  and  forest  ring  with  echoes. 

They  were,  however,  silent  when  the  return  shot 
took  away  the  rudder-post  of  the  "  St.  George."  This 
piece  of  ordnance  had  been  manned  by  Constance, 
wlio  had  spent  her  life  in  a  military  city,  under  the 
elbows  of  gunners.  By  her  father's  position  she  was 
permitted  to  learn  the  artillery  practice ;  to  which  he 
had  been  trained  in  his  youth.  In  bearing  her  part 
in  sighting  guns  upon  the  Penobscot,  she  recalled  the 
spirit  of  her  mother,  who  in  the  first  great  siege  of 
La  Eochelle  was  among  the  foremost  with  her  ladle, 
when  the  women  and  children  mounted  the  walls 
and  poured  boiling  pitch  upon  their  assailants. 

One  more  shot,  perilously  near  to  cutting  the  main 
boom,  led  the  baronet  to  beseech  his  commander  to 
run  out  of  range. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  land  soldiers  at  midnight 
upon  the  western  side  of  Majabiguyduce,  which  was 
met  with  so  fierce  an  onslaught,  that  they  retired  in 
some  confusion. 

The  Saxon  soldiery  had  none  too  much  faith  in 
their  French  baronet,  who  had  promised  the  surrender 
of  his  son's  fort  without  bloodshed.  The  number  of 
Huguenot  sailors  and  soldiers  on  board  prevented, 
however,  the  officers  from  making  any  hostile  demon- 
stration.    But  it  was  determined  to  test  his  fealty, 

J  The  flag  was  one  which  Constance  had  wrought  with  her  own 
fingers  against  the  day  of  peril. 


A  PATERNAL  AND  FILIAL  FIQHT. 


43 


and  avail  themselves  of  Claude  la  Tour's  knowledge 
of  localities  (he  having  resided  at  the  fort  in  former 
years)  to  make  regular  approaches  from  the  hill  on 
the  north,  unless  the  inner  palisades  could  be  carried 
by  surprise  upon  the  second  night. 

The  Pentagoiiet  garrison  had  now  been  reinforced 
during  thirty-six  hours  by  Indian  trappers  and 
friendly  warriors,  to  whom  Constance  had  sent  out 
runners  in  every  direction,  before  the  return  of  her 
husband,  upon  the  morning  she  first  saw  the  foreign 
flag.  The  Biguyduce  Eiver  was  alive  with  canoes 
stealing  along  in  the  evening  shadows ;  and  the  tall 
Tarratines  from  the  northern  waters  were  pouring 
down  upon  the  swift  current  and  the  outgoing  tide. 

The  surprise-party  in  the  night  was  therefore 
sadly  surprised.  The  baronet  hastily  returned  to  the 
"  Lionheart,"  still  wearing  his  scalp ;  in  which  he  was 
more  favored  than  some  of  his  shipmates. 

This  cloud  of  red  Indians  decided  the  attacking 
party  to  hold  a  war-council.  It  was  determined  to 
return  to  En^iand.^ 

It  was  whispered  among  the  officers,  that  the 
baronet  would  die  on  the  block  if  he  should  return 
to  England;  and  there  were  some  who  would  liave 
been  glad  to  see  him  dangling  from  a  yard-arm  in 
sight  of  the  fort. 

Claude  la  Tour  was,  however,  able  to  persuade  the 
commander,  Sir  Richard  Kent,  that  he  had  acted  in 

1  A  Geographical  History  of  Nova  Scotia.  London  :  1749, 
pp.  55-61. 


!    !l 


44 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


good  faith,  and  that  by  remaining  in  the  country  he 
would  be  able  to  render  important  service  to  Sir 
"William  Alexander,  and  to  the  King;  that  his  son 
would  co-operate  with  England,  as  to  the  settlement 
of  colonists,  although  he  deemed  it  prudent  for  the 
present  not  to  arouse  the  antagonism  of  France^ 
More  would  be  gained  for  England  with  a  La  Tour  in 
the  fort,  than  by  precipitating  upon  Acadia  the  forces 
of  Louis. 

Kent  had  not  been  favorably  impressed  with  what 
he  had  seen  of  the  coast ;  and  stated  that  he  would 
recommend  Alexander  to  give  the  La  Tours  the  whole 
of  it,  if  they  were  willing  to  take  it. 

Tlie  chagrin  of  the  lonely  baronet,  —  who  knew  not 
when  there  would  be  another,  who  at  that  time 
comprised  the  entire  body  of  landed  aristocracy  of 
Nova  Scotia,  —  was  very  great  when  he  reflected  upon 
the  disappointment  of  Henrietta,  who  was  thunder- 
struck at  the  turn  which  affairs  had  ♦"ken.  T*'^"''  '•'^ly 
alluding  to  his  changed  condition,  he  intimated  that 
she  miglit  prefer  to  return  to  England. 

'*  Do  you  suppose,"  she  answered,  "  that  I  assumed 
the  marriage  vows  to  forsake  you  ?  Wherever  you 
go,  I  will  go.  I  will  share  every  turn  of  fortune. 
However  wretched  the  condition,  it  will  be  my  great- 
est felicity  to  soften  the  rigors  of  your  fate,  and  to 
alleviate  your  sorrows." 

With  two  men  servants  and  two  maid  servants,  the 
baronet  and  Henrietta  were  set  ashore. 


w 


I* 


THE  WASTES   OF  THE   WORLD. 


45 


VI. 


THE  WASTES   OF  THE  WORLD. 

IF  England  had  claimed  the  country  first  explored 
by  Livingstone,  and  had  appropriated  it ;  or  if 
the  United  States,  or  more  properly  an  enterprising 
New  York  newspaper,  had  claimed  that  portion  of 
the  interior  of  Africa  upon  great  lakes  and  rivers 
which  Stanley  discovered,  ^as  a  mere  extension  of 
the  public  domain,  or  as  a  private  realm  in  which 
to  sell  papers,  —  it  would  have  been  precisely  what 
was  deemed  the  proper  thing  by  the  European  kings, 
—  who  sat  as  comfortably  as  they  could  upon  sword- 
points  or  cushions  of  silk,  surrounded  by  women  of 
questionable  reputation  or  by  fierce  soldiers,  with 
assassins  lurking  in  the  background,  —  when  the 
world's  enterprising  merchants,  sailors,  and  country 
gentlemen  went  out  and  explored  regions  unknown, 
and  dedicated  them  to  their  most  Christian  kings. 
The  kings,  upon  reflection,  had  no  doubt  that  they 
owned  the  domains  westward  by  perhaps  a  better 
title  than  many  things  of  which  they  had  possessed 
themselves  eastward. 

If  the  navigator  wanted,  therefore,  a  little  money 
to    develop    and    improve    his   new  land,   he   was 


1 1 


r 


46 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


allowed  by  that  crowned  Christian,  under  whose 
shadow  he  hajjpened  to  have  been  born,  to  get  his 
cash  as  best  he  could  in  the  way  business  men  ordi- 
narily do,  —  with  the  additional  security  of  certain 
dark  and  mysterious  rights  in  land  grants,  vast,  un- 
certain, perhaps  limitless  as  the  unknown  continent, 
doled  out  by  royal  hands  to  those  who  dare  risk 
money  and  person  in  a  new  world  risen  out  of  the 
sea. 

This  holding  out  of  sceptres  over  the  Cimmerian 
darkness  of  lands  less  known  to  Europe  than  the 
nether  world,  was  one  form  of  amusement  for  kings, 
some  of  whom  were  mere  children.  James,  Charles, 
Henry,  Louis,  Philip  all  claimed  and  all  gave  away 
the  same  country ;  and  the  poor  grantees  had  to  fight 
it  out  on  the  new  soil  as  best  they  could,  with  occa- 
sional help  from  their  liege  lords. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
the  actual  settlers,  who  once  got  a  grip  upon  their 
lands,  defied  the  world.  The  La  Tours,  therefore, 
claimed  it  as  their  right  to  hang  on  to  what  they  had 
got;  taking  with  both  hands  all  that  Louis  and 
Charles  would  give  them  in  the  way  of  titles,  and 
submitting  from  time  to  time  as  best  they  could  to 
the  chagrins  of  the  hour  and  the  changing  whims  of 
the  courts  of  Europe. 

When  Charles  la  Tour  had  once  discharged  his 
obligation  to  his  revered  father,  by  giving  him  much 
high-sounding  advice  upon  the  duty  of  a  patriotic  re- 
gard to  that  puppet,  which  was  made  to  sit  here  or 


THE   WASTES  OF  THE   WOULD. 


47 


to  .Stand  there  by  the  Bishop  of  Luqon  in  his  new- 
scarlet  robe ;  and  had  awakened  echoes  of  applause 
in  Versailles,  and  made  himself  respected  at  Hampton 
Court ;  and  had  received  a  congratulatory  letter  from 
Louis,  who  would  entertain  a  kingly  remembrance  of 
what  the  backwoodsman  had  done  for  him ;  and  had 
in  hand  his  commission  and  land  grants  from  France, 
and  a  baronetcy  not  formally  accepted  and  a  land 
grant  which  he  would  take  from  England,  —  he  was 
well  fitted  to  make  a  treaty  of  peace  witli  his  own 
father,  and  set  a  good  example  to  all  Blue  Noses  for- 
ever as  being  a  little  more  cute  than  any  Yankee  who 
had  yet  been  raised  upon  the  New  England  coast. 

If  Charles  la  Tour's  wits  had  not  been  sharpened 
by  his  experiences  in  a  new  world  it  was  not  the 
fault  of  his  fate. 

"  Of  course  the  La  Tours  own  this  country,"  said 
Constance  to  Henrietta,  as  they  embarked  in  their 
birch  to  pick  up  certain  mink  traps,  before  emigrating 
to  Cape  Sable.  "  The  former  king,  James,  shuffling 
round  in  his  old  shoes,  gossiping  with  his  old  Scotch 
cronies,  peering  out  of  the  thick  atmosphere  of 
London  or  the  mists  north  of  the  Tweed,  tried  to 
discover  another  bank  of  fog  for  his  countrymen,  and 
to  name  it  New  Scotland ;  now  King  Charles  at- 
tempts to  make  good  the  Scotch  grant.  As  for  Louis 
XIIL,  he  would  make  anybody  his  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral,  who  would  fortify  and  fight  in  his  name  upon 
any  part  of  the  globe  to  which  he  had  no  claim,  and 
he  would  call  it  New  France.     For  all  that,  whatever 


48 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


king  claims  it,  Acadia  belongs  to  the  La  Tours. 
Louis  was  only  eight  years  old  when  my  liusband 
came  to  Acadia ;  and  James  was  upon  his  throne, 
trying  to  substitute  oatmeal  porridge  for  English  beef, 
when  your  husband  first  appeared  in  these  parts ; 
and  Sir  William  Alexander  did  not  get  a  patent  from 
James  until  the  La  Tours  had  discovered  and  im- 
proved large  regions  in  their  own  right.  What  does 
Louis  know  about  the  Madawaska,  or  Charles  about 
the  Tobique  ?  They  slice  off  land  grants  mucli  as 
they  would  cold  turkey,  or  cold  Jesuit  as  they  say 
in  France."  ^ 

"  I  am  sure,"  replied  Henrietta,  "  that  if  I  had 
starved  in  Acadia  as  your  husband  did  that  winter 
with  Biencourt  waiting  for  supplies  from  France,  I 
should  lay  claim  to  the  country  for  a  recompense. 
Fat  and  oiled  and  curled  kings  never  wintered  on 
acorns  and  hazel-nuts,  buds,  roots,  lichens,  and  boiled 
boots.  He  told  me  that  he  had  breakfasted  in  Janu- 
ary upon  broth  made  from  the  eel  skins  with  which 
he  had  patched  his  trousers  in  October ;  and  dined 
the  next  day  upon  soup  made  from  the  tops  of  his 
elk-hide  boots." 

"  I  suppose,"  answered  Constance,  "  it  was  a  whiff 
of  that  broth  which  excited  the  envy  of  the  lean  and 
scrawny  Scotch  noblemen.  They  have  little  fun  in 
their  north  country,  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  look 
upon  it  as  a  huge  joke  to  beg  land  from  a  king,  who 

1  It  being  believed  that  the  Jesuits  introduced  this  bird  to 
Europe. 


THE    WASTES  OF  THE   WOULD, 


49 


does  not  own  it ;  and  then  give  away  what  does  not 
Ijelong  to  them  to  men,  like  your  liusbund  and  mine, 
who  had  been  already  the  actual  owners  of  it  for 
some  twenty  years.  I  expect  now,  at  almost  any 
time  there  will  come,  riding  upon  the  morning  sea, 
some  other  claimant  of  this  country.  He  may  be 
English,  he  may  be  Scotch,  he  may  be  from  Virginia, 
from  Plymoutli,  from  Massachusetts  Bay,  from  Pem- 
aquid,  or  he  may  be  from  France ;  he  may  be  an 
Episcopalian,  a  Presbyterian,  a  Separatist,  a  Papist, 
or  a  Jesuit.  It  is  on  this  account  that  we  propose 
to  fortify  for  the  La  Tours.  America  is  booty  for 
adventurers,  and  we  expect  to  be  attacked  by  almost 
everybody,  —  although  Charles  to  be  sure  did  not 
expect  to  exchange  shots  with  his  own  father.  I 
presume  that  my  old  lover,  the  La  Eochelle  Jesuit, 
will  turn  up  next." 

"  That  would  be  no  more  strange,"  replied  Henri- 
etta, "  than  what  has  already  taken  place,  when  you 
stood  sighting  a  gun,  with  your  mother-in-law  on  the 
other  side,  trembling  lest  you  should  kill  her  out- 
right." 

"  I  should  think,  indeed,  that  Charles  de  Menou 
would  come  to  America,"  said  Constance.  "  The 
Jesuits  wish  to  convert  the  Indian  world ;  and  the 
woods  are  full  of  savage  souls." 

"Any  young  Frenchman,"  replied  Henrietta, 
"  would,  I  should  suppose,  be  glad  to  get  into  a  coun- 
try where  he  is  free  to  think  and  act  without  losing 
his  head.      I  do  not  wonder  that  Champlain  loves 

4 


50 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


!  ffl     II 


i  H! 


,1 

I 


:iti 


the  wiklerness ;  I  only  wonder  at  his  angelic  wife, 
wlioni  the  Indians  at  Quebec  wanted  to  worship, 
who  has  left  her  husband  to  wander  in  the  woods  at 
his  own  sweet  will,  and  has  gone  back  to  Franco  to 
enter  a  convent,  there  to  fulfil  her  predestined  saintly 
career  with  the  holy  women  of  her  native  country. 
I  suppose  that  she  would  rather  be  the  bride  of  the 
Church  than  of  a  pioneer." 

"  For  myself,"  responded  Constance,  "  my  heart  is 
in  Acadia ;  and  I  love  every  Indian,  every  stump, 
every  boar,  and  every  beaver  in  it.  T  only  wish  that 
I  had  a  tithe  of  the  Huguenots  of  France,  —  and  I 
think  I  could  put  up  with  a  very  few  grumbling 
Scots,  —  and  we  would  soon  lay  the  foundations  of  a 
Protestant  nation.  Our  Acadian  harbors  are  better 
than  the  English  have,  to  the  south  of  us ;  we  have 
better  rivers ;  and  our  soil  is  as  good  as  theirs,  if  jiot 
better.  You  and  I  ought  to  be  crusaders,  and  stir 
lip  the  old  nations  to  come  and  settle  these  wastes  of 
the  V  orld." 

When  the  mink  traps  and  all  other  traps,  by  the 
marvellous  executive  force  of  Simon  Imbert,  — 
Charles  laToi;r's  right  hand  man, —  had  been  removed 
to  Cape  Sable,  the  new  "Fort  Louis"  frowned  among 
the  rocks,  upon  a  headland  which  gave  sight  of  all 
shipping  bound  for  Fundy,  the  Penobscot,  or  the 
Massachusetts  Bay.  And  the  King's  Lieutenant 
kept  a  swift  shallop  constantly  provisioned  and 
munitioned,  ready  for  a  long  chase  or  a  sudden 
expedition. 


'S 


THE  WASTES   OF   THE  WORLD. 


61 


Cape  Sable  itself  is  an  isliirul,  a  barren  mass  of 
rocks.  Behind  it,  the  coast  is  indented.  Upon  the 
fiii"cr  of  land  reacliinj?  out  from  the  main  on  tlio 
east,  stood  the  fort;  a  stronghold  massive  and  im- 
movable by  the  artillery  of  that  age,  —  as  Cape  Sable 
itself  amid  the  thundering  surges,  pounding  against 
it  throughout  all  generations.  East  of  Fort  Lonis  tlie 
Atlantic  had  so  gashed  the  coast  as  to  make  a  little 
harbor;  the  mouth  of  wliich  was  guarded  against 
strangers  by  a  baker's  dozen  of  rocky  islets.  Baccaro 
Point  makes  into  the  ocean  n])on  the  east  of  this 
little  port,  which  is  still  called  Port  Latour,  —  a 
little  fishing  hamlet  occupying  the  ground  where 
stood  the  house  of  Constance,  and  the  trading-post, 
the  little  chapel,  and  the  Indian  school-building  in 
which  Henrietta  taught  the  Sorriquois  children  for 
ome  months. 

The  heaviest  seas  were  broken  npon  the  reefs 
fronting  Port  Latour.  Ugly  ledges  stood  away  from 
the  cape,  a  full  mile  into  the  sea.  The  waters  were 
full  of  danger,  save  to  those  who  went  in  and  out 
every  day,  with  full  knowledge  where  they  could  sail 
in  safety. 

It  was  easy  to  find  a  good  sand-bank  for  curing 
fish ;  and  to  discover  an  abundance  of  game  upon  the 
low  coasts,  and  the  wooded  islands.  The  stony  soil 
supported  a  thick  imderbrush ;  and  the  bushes  were 
alive  with  rabbits.  Barrens  made  by  old  forest-fires, 
and  bogs  which  had  raised  rank  grasses  for  the  deer 
and  the  moose  of  unnumbered  centuries,  and  exten- 


'^'f^ 


bi 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


sive  marshes,  offered  to  the  La  Tours  easy  experi- 
ments in  agriculture ;  and  they  cut  no  small  amount 
of  grass,  here  and  there,  in  the  area  of  modern  Bar- 
rington  and  Argyle.  A  patch  of  some  ten  or  fifteen 
acres  was  often  turned  by  the  plough. 

A  house  was  built  for  La  Tour  the  senior,  whose 
happy  temperament  satisfied  him  with  small  comfort 
if  he  could  not  have  more. 

Notwithstanding  the  gallant  defence  upon  the  Pe- 
nobscot, Port  Eoyal  had  been  taken  by  Sir  William 
Alexander ;  but  Acadia  and  Quebec  were  immediately 
ceded  to  France  again,  so  that  the  La  Tours  were 
first  under  one  king  then  another,  scarcely  knowing 
or  caring  who  claimed  to  rule  over  them.  First  one 
king  was  lost,  then  another ;  but  the  La  Tours  were 
always  to  be  found,  —  as  a  Micmac  told  Constance 
in  the  forest :  "  Wigwam  lost ;  Indian  here." 

Foreseeing  the  impending  struggle  for  America,  in 
the  game  of  kings,  the  La  Tours  made  sure  of  their 
fortifications  :  La  Tour  the  senior  being  set  to  work 
upon  a  fort  at  St.  John,  as  soon  as  Cape  Sable  was 
ready  for  war. 


^- 


THE  80URIQU0I8. 


53 


VII. 


THE   SOURIQUOIS. 

ON  their  way  to  the  St.  John,  the  baronet  and  the 
lady  Henrietta  visited  picturesque  Port  Eoyal, 
its  wild  hills  and  watery  expanse  of  surpassing  beauty. 
Sir  William  Alexander's  Scotch  colony  had  suffered 
much  in  the  long  winter,  three  sevenths  of  the  in- 
habitants seeking  narrow  houses  under  the  sod  within 
the  few  months  before  Henrietta  and  her  husband 
bore  such  comfort  as  they  could  to  the  homes  of  the 
living. 

The  La  Tours  had  great  interest  in  the  quadrangle 
at  the  settlement,  and  upon  the  river  !fiquille.  The 
father  had  been  driven  from  this  spot  by  the  Eng- 
lish, going  thence  to  the  Penobscot ;  and  the  son  still 
owned  it  all,  by  the  Biencourt  deed,  under  the  French 
grant.i 

The  influence  of  the  early  French  occupation  was 
still  discernible  in  the  Indian  residents  of  the  neijzh- 
boring  wilds ;  the  aboriginal  population  easily  catcli- 

1  The  memorial  stone,  some  two  feet  by  two  and  a  half,  inscribed 
by  the  founders  with  the  Masonic  square  and  compasses  and  the 
date,  1606,  was  discovered  in  1827. 


M 


54 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


ing  the  polite  forms  and  salutations  characteristic  of 
their  teachers.^ 

A  hundred  or  more  of  the  Souriquois  families  near 
Cape  Sable  were  formed  into  a  mission  by  Constance, 
at  first  with  Henrietta's  aid.  These  Indians  became 
so  much  attached  to  the  French,  that  they  were 
practically  so  many  allies  for  the  enlargement  of 
the  garrison,  if  occasion  should  require.^ 

In  connection  with  the  fur  trade,  established  in  all 
the  region  far  and  near,  Constance  herself  visited  no 
small  area  of  the  Indian  settlements,  living  for  weeks 
together  among  the  savages,  seeking  in  some  practical 
way  to  improve  their  lives  within  and  without. 

When  Constance  reflected  upon  the  ages  of  barbai 
ism  in  her  native  country,  pagan  Gaul,  and  thv'^,  ages 
preceding  of  Roman  savagery,  and  upon  the  relative 
low  state  of  Christian  civilization  among  the  Latin 
peoples  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
she  did  not  look  for  great  results  immediately  follow- 
ing any  attempt  she  might  make  to  Christianize  her 
Souriquois  neighbors.  If,  indeed,  she  could  have 
made  them  what  she  would,  there  would  have  been 
less  need  of  importing  Huguenots. 

* 

^  Argal  in  making  his  savage  and  piratical  onslaught  upon  the 
French  at  Mount  Desert,  which  led  ultimately  to  the  destruction 
of  Port  Royal,  discovered  the  neighborhood  of  the  French  by  the 
politeness  of  the  natives  ;  the  captain  discerning  in  this  the  French 
"tracks,"  as  one  would  follow  wild  game  by  footsteps  in  the 
forest. 

'•^  This  alliance  appears  in  La  Tour's  communications  to  the 
French  King. 


THE  SOURIQUOIS. 


65 


tions  to  the 


It  is  still  related  in  the  Imbert  family,  that  when 
Constance  had  spent  some  months  in  work  among 
the  Indians,  she  confessed  to  having  gained  new  in- 
siglit  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  sacred  books,  in  which 
it  is  said  that  the  Lord  is  patient  and  long  suffering, 
and  slow  to  an!:fer. 

The  power  of  Constance  over  the  wild  men  of  the 
woods  was  due  mainly  to  her  adaptation  to  the  kind 
of  life  she  led  among  them.  No  warrior  could  fail 
to  be  attracted  by  her  well  balanced  figure  and  elastic 
step  in  the  wilderness ;  and  it  was  noticed  that  she 
turned  not  to  the  right  hand  nor  the  left  in  a  day's 
march,  but  kept  straight  forward  as  the  Indians  did, 
unmindful  of  any  particular  tangle  in  the  tangled 
wood. 

It  came  to  be  noised  abroad  that  to  the  various 
kinds  of  Indians  of  Acadia,  —  Abenakis,  Canibas, 
Etechemins,  Mahingans,  Micmacs,^  Openagos,  Socco- 
kis,  —  there  was  now  added  Constansis,  a  name  that 
ran,  wherever  the  warriors  ran,  along  the  Acadian 
rivers.  That  the  Micmac  remnant  at  Shediac  should 
still  mention  her  name,  as  the  Guardian  Angel  of 
their  children,  is  indeed  a  delightful  testimony  to  the 
place  won  by  this  Huguenot  woman  in  the  hearts, 
"and  so  in  the  mythology,  of  the  pagans  she  served. 

A  fishing  station  was  established  at  what  is  now 
Port  Rossingal.  In  this  lone  land,  with  Claude  la 
Tour  and  a  dozen  whites  at  Saint  John,  ten  Scotch 
families  at  Port  Koyal,  Simon  Imbert  at  Pentagouet, 

^  Souriquois. 


! 


I  ! 


i'tg  iii 


»i|!l 


I 


r 


50 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


and  her  own  huoband  with  a  few  trusted  soldiers 
at  Cape  Sable,  this  Guardian  Angel  ministered  to 
the  >ouriquois,  at  Rossingal,  at  La  H^ve,  and,  —  by 
following  the  streams,  and  crossing  the  mountains  in 
paths  made  by  the  wild  beasts  meandering  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  surface  like  dry  rivulets, — 
moved  across  the  land's  interior  even  as  far  as  Chiq- 
necto  Bay,  where  she  found  vast  numbers  of  Indiana 
near  the  great  marshes,  with  well  settled  agricultural 
habits,  and  an  inexhaustible  and  unvarying  abundance 
of  game  at  hand.  Wherever  she  ventured  amid  the 
deep-green  trees,  tossing  like  the  waves  of  the  green 
sea,  clothing  a  continent  like  the  boundless  expanse 
of  waters,  it  is  a  part  of  the  old  Indian  stor}^, — living 
now  after  more  than  two  hundred  years,  —  that  'he 
branches,  even  upon  still  days,  waved  welcome  and 
farewell  as  she  passed  under  them ;  and  that  the  for- 
ests sw^ayed  listening,  when  she  spoke  to  the  Indians 
about  her  God ;  that  the  meadows  enlarged  their  bor- 
ders and  multiplied  their  flowers,  when  she  plied  her 
paddle  passing  through  them  upon  smooth  streams ; 
that  moss-grown  and  decaying  trees  were  touched 
with  undying  youth,  wherever  she  kindled  her  camp- 
fire  ;  that  the  clanging  and  screaming  sea-birds  gath- 
ered in  a  silent  cloud  above  her  head,  and  that  the 
wild  waves  ceased  their  tumbling,  when  her  birch 
rounded  the  headlands  in  passing  from  one  inlet  to 
another  to  gather  the  children  of  her  mission. 

These  dream-like  journeys,  invented  by  wigwam 
fires  during  eight  generations,  are  pleasanter  by  far 


THE   SOUniQUOIS. 


57 


than  those  endured  by  the  original  missionary.  It 
was  prosaic  enough  iu  the  tough  work,  so  long  since 
forgotten  ])y  those  who  have  idealized  the  story. 

Huddle  of  huts,  —  some  like  inverted  and  coned 
wash-tubs ;  others  like  large  sized  hen-coops  twenty 
feet  lonnf,  or  like  roucrh  barracks  of  a  hundred  feet 
with  a  loft  for  the  children  of  eight  families  and  sleep- 
ing stalls  upon  either  side  below  —  all  with  a  stone 
platform  for  fire  the  whole  length  of  the  centre,  with 
no  chimney  save  a  hole  in  the  roof  closed  in  stormy 
weather,  without  windows,  with  a  door  at  one  end 
—  all  inclosed  with  a  heavy  stockade  of  oak,  double 
set,  fifteen  feet  high ;  villages  as  often  as  may  be 
standing  between  wood  and  water,^  devoured  of  gnats, 
mosquitoes,  and  black  fiies  in  summer,  and  smothered 
by  smoke  in  winter;  villages  often  connected  by  old- 
trodden  paths,  deep  with  water  or  mire,  bordered  by 
briai  and  thorn,  —  paths  over  burnt  lands,  scorched 
under  the  summer's  heat  or  wind-swept  in  w^inter;  — 
villages  crowded  with  men  of  medium  size,  well 
formed,  of  strong  physique,  full  of  fire,  absolutely 
without  temper  upon  their  tongues  or  in  their  facial 
muscles,  but  with  cold-blooded  barbaric  cruelty  in 
their  hearts,  —  they  alone  matching  the  Iroquois  in 
battle ;  villages  in  which  the  squaws,  with  their  great 
black  eyes  and  fat  unwieldy  frames,  were  honored  by 
tlie  chiefs  in  contest   unique  before  they  ventured 

^  Besides  the  coast  and  rivers,  there   are  between   seven  and 
eight  hundred  small  lakes  in   Nova  Scotia,   the  shores  offering  ' 
favorite  sites  for  the  Indian  villages. 


68 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


upon  the  war  path ;  ^  women  tough  and  wiry  as  their 
husbands,  with  bodies  impervious  to  heat  or  cold; 
women  honored,  as  well  they  might  be,  for  their  use- 
fulness, not  only  in  making  fish  nets  in  imitation  of 
the  spider-webs  they  saw  hanging  upon  the  shrubs 
along  shore,  but  in  stirring  the  damp  soil  of  spring- 
time ^ 'ith  crooked  sticks,  and  putting  in  corn, 
squashes,  pumpkins,  water-melons,  —  and  not  without 
skill  in  tobacco  culture :  villages  swarming  with  chil- 
dren,—  the  babes  crawling  without  clothing  into 
snow-drifts  and  thickets,  upon  tlie  ice  or  in  the 
water,  —  the  feeble  dying,  and  the  strong  becoming 
as  agile  as  the  beasts  of  prey,  and  as  much  inured 
to  the  changing  conditions  of  wind  and  weather  i^  — 
amid  such  surroundings  Constance  led  no  ideal  life 
of  poetic  dreaming ;  but  she  turned  heartily  to  the 
problems  of  the  place  and  the  hour,  with  a  practical 
insight  into  just  what  could  and  could  not  be  done 
to  ameliorate  the  physical  and  spiritual  condition  of 
the  Acadian  savagery. 

Moving  about  among  the  hundreds  of  islands  which 
gem  the  waters  of  Argal  Bay,  and  nearly  one  hundred 

i  Geographical  HiM^ory  of  Nova  Scotia,  London,  1747  ;  p.  45. 
Charlevoix,  in  Ilistoirc  Nouvclle  France,  passim,  indicates  that 
nominally,  and  in  fact  commonly,  the  dictum  of  the  Indian  women 
was  considered  final, 

2  Charlevoix,  Nouvclle  France,  I.  113,  114.  The  accounts  in 
Parkman's  Jesuits  of  what  Indian  captives  endured,  show  that  the 
she-hears  and  wolves  of  Canada  were  not  tougher  than  the  women  ; 
proving,  at  least,  that  the  American  climate  is  not  in  itself  unfavor- 
able to  the  feminine  physique. 


THE  SOURIQUOIS. 


59 


lakelets  strung  along  the  Tusket  River,  Constance  — 
says  the  Indian  tradition  —  called  for  a  great  gather- 
ing ac  a  bear  feast.  It  was  in  the  late  autumn,  when 
bruin  was  in  fine  condition.  The  frightened  bears 
were  clubbed  out  of  the  grape  vines  iu  the  trc  ^  tops 
by  creatures  more  courageous  than  they  ;  and  were 
then  driven  upon  the  run  by  the  nimble-footed 
savages ;  so  that  from  many  quarters,  the  swift  In- 
dians armed  with  mere  switches  might  be  seen  driv- 
ing parcels  of  bears  toward  a  village  full  of  arrows 
and  spears  and  sharp  appetites.^ 

Into  the  mouths  of  the  slain  bears,  and  down  their 
throats,  smoke  from  an  Indian  pipe  was  blown  by  the 
hunters,  and,  with  this  incense  offered  to  the  spirit 
ursine,  each  bear  was  conjured  to  cherish  no  resent- 
ment for  the  insult  done  his  body;  then  the  bear 
heads,  painted  and  adorned,  were  set  in  honored 
place,  and  the  savages  sang  the  praises  of  the  king 
of  Acadian  beasts,  while  they  tore  in  pieces  and 
devoured  every  shred  of  the  flesh. 

The  bears  left  little  appetite  for  the  French  pastry 
which  Constance  had  prepared ;  but  the  memory  of 
her  skill  in  cookery  fastened  itself  at  least  in  the 
mind  of  the  leather-visaged  old  chief  Packate,  who 
inquired  whether  the  pies  of  Paradise  were  as  good 
as  those  made  at  Port  Latour.  "  If  I  ask  for  nothing 
but   bread,"  objected  the  grisly  Outan,  in  learning 

'  Charlevoix's  Journal  of  i  Voyage  to  North  America.  2  Vols. 
London,  1761.     I.  182,  et  al. 


I 


/^ 


60 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


the  Lord's  prayer,  "I  shall  have  no  more  moose 
or  sweet-meats."  ^ 

Acute  were  the  arguments  of  these  wild  theolo- 
gians against  a  written  revelation.  Proud  at  heart 
and  independent,  they  had  little  apprehension  of 
things  spiritual.  "Work  was  a  penance,  gently  insisted 
upon  as  tending  toward  the  highest  good.  Simple 
industries  adapted  to  the  forest  were  introduced, — 
the  making  of  tar  from  the  pines  being  one  Acquisi- 
tiveness,— the  saving  gospel  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs, 
—  was  taught  by  Constance. 

The  women  were  inducted  into  the  mysteries  of 
bread-making,  —  a  knowledge  welcome  in  the  woods, 
where  hominy,  soaked  and  pounded  and  baked  in  the 
ashes  and  eaten  hot,  answered  for  bread.  The  Bread 
of  Life  had  more  meaning  to  those  who  lear.ied  the 
French  cooking.  The  flavoring  of  venison-broth  for 
the  sick  gained  favor  for  the  fair  missionary. 

And  her  heart  was  full  for  the  sorrows  of  mother- 
hood. Poor  Nimi  of  fantastic  foot,  a  merry  dancing 
girl,  she  found  bending  over  the  grave  of  her  first- 
born child,  sprinkling  the  sod  with  the  milk  from 
her  breasts.  "  I  have  buried  in  this  grave,"  said  the 
mourner,  "  the  cradle  and  all  my  child's  clothing  and 
everything  she  handled,  not  only  to  testify  my  love, 
but  likewise  to  prevent  my  having  always  before  my 

^  De  la  Hutclictte  was  the  only  street  in  Paris  which  interested 
the  Iroquois  chieftains,  —  a  row  of  pastry  shops,  Charlevoix, 
Journal,  II.  107. 


THE  SOUBIQUOIS. 


61 


nore  moose 


eyes  objects  which,  being  constantly  used  by  her, 
incessantly  renew  my  grief." 

And  tlie  heart  of  Constance  was  touched  with  the 
sorrows  of  childhood.  It  was  her  devotion  to  the 
little  ones  which  led  to  her  apotheosis.  She  taught 
to  them  the  Hebrew  idea  of  guardian  spirits,  which 
doubtless  gave  form  to  the  shape  in  which  she  was 
herself  remembered  when  she  ceased  to  move  through 
the  Acadian  forests. 

She  had  hope  for  the  cliildren,  and  she  went  to 
school  to  them,  learning  all  their  wildwood-lore : 
about  the  birds,  —  the  swallow,  the  tlirush,  the  black- 
bird, the  raven,  the  wood-pigeon,  and  the  partridges 

—  red,  white,  black ;  and  about  the  roots,  —  so  need- 
ful a  knowledge  in  the  forest.^ 

With  them  she  sought  out  the  strawberry  barrens ; 
and  to  them  she  imparted  her  knowledge  of  what  to 
do  with  the  vast  stores  of  bluets^  they  gathered, 
interesting  the  little  ones  in  the  culinary  arts  from 
La  Eochelle.  To  make  vinegar  out  of  gooseberries, 
to  cure  the  wild  plums,  to  coddle  the  wild  apples,  to 
improve  the  quality  of  the  native  fruit-trees  by  cul- 
ture, to  favor  the  pears,  to  select  the  best  grape-vines, 

—  formed  a  part  of  the  practical  instruction  of  the 
Guardian  Angel  of  the  Souriquois ;  and  the  children 
in  the  next  generation  called  her  blessed. 

1  The  root  of  Solomon's  Seal  played  no  mean  part  in  keeping  the 
French  from  starving  at  Quebec  ;  groundnuts,  varied  by  acorns  and 
clams,  were  an  inipoi-tant  article  of  diet  to  the  poor  of  Boston  in 
more  than  one  hard  winter  of  the  early  settlement. 

2  Blueberries. 


62 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


To  the  little  Sagassoa  was  imparted  special  infor- 
mation, how  to  protect  the  Indian  babes  from  the 
torment  of  the  unperceivable  sparks  of  fire,  —  the 
hrulots ;  ^  and  to  Pingoe  was  given  the  results  of 
French  rellcction  as  to  the  best  way  to  fight  the 
columwitclih  in  June. 

The  1)1  inulacture  of  maple  sugar  was  first  intro- 
duced into  Acadia  by  Constance,  who  taught  the 
method  to  her  Indian  chiltlien. 

It  was  mucli,  not  little,  that  this  cultivated  woman, 
—  her  soul  fired  with  great  enterprises  for  the  faith 
that  was  in  her,  and  for  the  outworking  of  a  great 
problem  for  her  nation,  —  should  have  placed  her 
heart,  throbbing  beat  upon  beat,  by  the  side  of  these 
Souriquois  hearts,  of  warrior  and  widow,  of  r^ other 
and  child,  in  the  humble  avocations  of  each  day  in 
their  squalid  homes. 

She  fastened  her  religious  instruction  upon  what- 
ever was  worthy  among  a  people  who  appeared,  to 
themselves  at  least,  to  have  no  small  allotment  of 
this  world's  happiness. 

By  tears  and  entreaty,  never  by  threats  and  blows, 
these  women  of  Acadia  ruled  within  their  own  homes. 
"  Thou  dishonorest  me,"  uttered  by  a  tearful  mother, 
failed  not  to  win  the  heart  and  the  obedience  of  her 
child ;  and  if  in  hasty  temper  the  extremity  of  reproof 
was  given  —  a  few  drops  of  water  sprinkled  upon  a 
child's  face  —  the  proud  aggrieved  spirit  sometimes 
sought  refuge  in  exit  from  life  itself.     The  children 

1  La  Honton,  I.  242. 


TBE  SOURIQUOIS. 


68 


were  taught  that  no  one,  not  even  their  own  parents, 
had  the  right  to  force  tliem  to  do  anytliing.  Upon 
tliis  stalwart,  self-respecting,  self-reliant  character, 
there  was  by  patience  built  up  something  more  than 
the  highest  Indian  virtue,  respect  for  age ;  and  some 
there  were  who  sought  to  conform  their  wills  to  Ilim 
who  is  called  the  Ancient  of  Days. 

This  missionary  to  the  Micinacs,  whose  name  is 
worthy  of  honor  by  the  side  of  Mayhew,  Eliot,  and 
the  Ursulines  of  Canada,  was  cut  off  long  before  the 
prime  of  her  years.  When,  just  before  the  end  came, 
she  made  her  last  visit  to  the  inland  villages,  and 
cruised  along  the  inlets  of  the  south-shore,  she  found 
a  little  less  dirt,  a  little  less  smoke,  a  little  more  to 
eat,  a  little  less  contention  among  the  women,  more 
aversion  to  the  vices  which  cursed  many  homes,  more 
intelligent  views  of  the  All-Father,  and  more  faith  in 
the  living  and  loving  God. 


I 


64 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


VIII. 

MARCHIONLoS  DE  GUERCIIEVILLE. 

"TT  THEN"  Constance  was  a  child,  she  was  with  her 
'  ^  mother  the  guest  of  the  Marcliiouess  de 
Guercheville,  at  the  tiiae  Heniy  IV.  made  a  hunting 
party  an  excuse  to  crave  Mudame's  hospitality.  Tlie 
chateau,  standing  upon  the  right  bank  of  the  Seine, 
about  ten  leagues  below  Paris,  was  brilliantly  illu- 
minated for  the  royal  lover ;  the  open  groves  upon 
the  upland  in  the  rear  of  the  house  were  lighted  by 
colored  fires,  and  the  beautiful  gardens  upon  the  ter- 
races were  blazing  with  light ;  the  fountains  and  riv- 
ulets added  their  delicate  music  to  that  of  skilled 
voices  and  tuneful  instruments,  —  as  the  King,  sur- 
prised at  so  cordial  a  reception,  rode  up  the  long 
avenue  of  shade  trees,  under  the  escort  of  booted 
guardsmen,  clothed  in  blood-red  or  deep  blue  richly 
embroidered  with  silver ;  he  was  met  at  the  portal  by 
plumed  and  ribboned,  ruffled  and  starched,  and  laced 
and  gilded  gentry,  and  by  women  of  rank  in  robes  of 
purple  and  cloth  of  gold.  The  king,  alighting  upon  a 
carpet  of  flowers  was  greeted  by  the  Marchioness, 
clad  in  gray  velvet  shot  with  gold,  a  robe  of  black 
satin  variegated  with  white,  a  gray  hat  and  white 


MARCHIONESS  DE   QUERCUEVILLE.         65 


featlier,  her  neck  and  bosom  of  pearl  loaded  witli  jew- 
els. Having  ushered  her  lord  and  king  into  his  apart- 
ment, the  hostess  repaired  at  once  to  the  court  yard, 
where  her  gay  equipage  was  waiting,  and  drove  two 
leagues  to  the  gray  couveut  of  St.  Agathe,  which 
stood  with  its  heavy  walls  among  the  crags  upon  a 
lonely  hill  top  in  a  sparsely  settled  district,  and  there 
craved  a  lodging. 

She  left  word  with  her  astonished  monarch, — 
"  Where  the  King  is,  he  should  <3  sole  master ; 
where  I  am,  I  desire  to  preserve  uiy  authority.  If 
my  rank  is  too  1  )W  to  becom  •,  ^'our  wife,  m  *  heart  is 
too  high  to  become  your  mi; iress." 

In  after  years,  the  King  deemed  her  the  one  per- 
son in  his  kingdom,  who  should  stand  next  his 
queen. 

In  the  new  reign,  the  Marchioness  was  in  high 
favor  with  Concini,  whose  conscience  was  kept  by 
the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  most  influential  minds  in 
Ffance  were  at  that  period  under  the  advice  of  those 
followers  of  Loyc^^  who  were  set  apart  as  "spiritual 
coadjutors  "  with  ih  j  care  of  souls.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  Concini,  Madame  de  Guercheville  selected 
Arrighi  as  hei  confessor.  The  Jesuit  authorities 
sought  out  the  consciences  of  women  likely  to  be  of 
eminent  service. 

It  was  upon  those  identical  days  when  Constance 
was  traversing  the  heads  of  the  rivers  at  the  base  of 
the  mountain  range,  in  search  of  the  Souriquois  chil- 
dren, that  the  Marchioness  de  Guercheville  dedicated 

6 


r- 


66 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


her  fortune  to  Jesuit  missions  in  New  France,  and 
obtained  a  grant  from  Louis  XIII.  of  all  North 
America  for  her  grand  project  of  Christianizing  the 
denizens  of  the  wilderness.  With  all  the  power  of 
the  court  behind  her,  she  personally  solicited  funds 
among  the  royal  favorites,  and  bought  for  Jesuit 
missionaries  a  controlling  interest  in  great  mercantile 
enterprises,  and  made  the  most  elaborate  and  syste- 
matic plans  for  colonizing  the  new  world,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  which  had  already 
borne  the  cross  of  their  Saviour,  and  the  discipline  of 
their  order  to  every  part  of  the  known  world. 

It  cannot  be  said,  that  Constance  had  a  pre-judice 
against  this  holy  order,  so  much  as  a  post-judice. 
By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.  She  remembered 
how  her  father  had  exerted  himself  against  the  res- 
toration of  the  Order  in  France,  when  they  had  been 
once  cast  out  for  supposed  (with  little  reason  it  is 
likely,)  complicity  in  the  assassination  of  Henry  of 
Navarre.  It  was  not  in  her  blood  to  live  at  ease  in 
Acadia  with  these  men.  Perhaps  her  judgment  had 
been  warped  the  more  by  the  leading  away  from  her 
childhood  heart,  and  the  heart  of  her  blooming 
womanhood,  Charles  of  La  Kochelle. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  she  had  nought  to  do  now,  but 
to  gird  herself  to  the  contest  with  Madame  de 
Guercheville  for  that  portion  of  country  controlled 
by  La  Tour. 

Constance  of  Acadia  had  a  mission  to  perform. 
With  no  confessor  at  her  side,  with  no  rosary  in 


MARCHIONESS  DE  QUERCHEVILLE. 


67 


jewelled  fingers,  this  practical,  energetic  woman 
stood  to  her  faith,  and  to  self-denying  labors  among 
the  pagan  people  of  her  husband's  province.  To 
build  up  a  Protestant  nation,  to  colonize  the  new 
world  with  sach  men  of  France  as  would  die  rather 
than  submit  their  consciences  to  the  pope  and  his 
kings,  was  the  work  which  she  determined  to  main- 
tain even  at  the  cannon's  mouth.  She  would  give 
her  own  life  rather  than  yield  to  that  religious  Order, 
which,  at  a  critical  time  in  the  settlement  of  America, 
sought  to  control  the  opening  continent,  when  there 
were  few  men  in  it. 

Looking  at  it  now,  as  it  must  appear  to  the  student 
of  history,  her  stand,  when  she  made  it,  was  little 
else  than  the  attempt  of  a  solitary  woman  to  sweep 
back  the  on-rushing  tides  of  Fun.^y.  "  Thou  King  of 
kings,  give  me  Acadia,  or  I  die,"  was  the  inscription 
cut  by  Constance  upon  the  great  paper  birch,  near 
the  Souriquois  school-hut  at  La  H^ve;  as  it  was 
found  after  her  death  by  Simon  Imbert. 

The  inscription  may  have  been  made  upon  the 
morning  of  the  very  day  when  "L'Esperance  en 
Dieu"  hove  to,  near  the  rocks  at  Cape  Sable. 

This  pious  pinnace,  this  hope  in  God,  was  of  a 
hundred  tons;  with  all  the  guns  and  swivels  she 
could  safely  carry.  If  the  commander  hoped  in  God, 
he  also  kept  his  powder  dry. 

The  King's  governor  or  Lieutenant  in  Acadia  see- 
ing the  flag  of  his  nation  at  the  masthead  of  the 
stranger,  fired  a  salute,  which  was  returned;  and  a 


r- 


68 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


boat  load  of  those  whose  hope  was  in  the  Divine 
Providence  and  in  their  own  powder,  made  toward 
Fort  Louis.  The  handsome  young  commander,  clad 
in  garb  little  removed  from  that  of  the  Jesuit  priest- 
hood, presented  his  credentials  as  one  of  Mme.  de 
G  uercheville's  lay  missionaries,  who  was  to  estab- 
lish certain  priests  upon  the  Penobscot,  at  such  point 
as  the  King's  Lieutenant  might  deem  most  feasible ; 
concerning  which,  he  desired  an  interview. 

Apologizing  for  his  wife's  absence,  who  was  at  her 
La  Heve  mission.  La  Tour  invited  the  ecclesiastics  to 
his  house  outside  the  fort,  and  made  the  most  of  the 
hospitalit/  he  had  learned  from  his  polite  father,  and 
his  frank  open-hearted  mother  in  Piedmont. 

He  was  informed  in  oily  phrases  of  the  great  repu- 
tation he  had  won  for  himself  in  France,  by  the  gal- 
lant defence  he  had  m.vie  of  Pentagciiet ;  and  that 
the  King  intended  further  to  honor  him :  meantime, 
it  would  be  greatly  for  his  interest  to  render  every 
aid  in  his  power  to  the  work  of  saving  the  pagans, 
and  transforming  them  into  the  allies  of  France. 
The  princes  of  royal  blood  had  contributed  largely  to 
their  mission ;  and  with  his  great  revenue  from  the 
m  nopoly  of  the  fur-trade  upon  the  peninsula,  and 
upon  the  St.  John  and  upon  the  Penobscot,  it  had 
seemed  to  them  probable  that  he  would  devote  some 
portion  at  least  of  the  Penobscot  profits  to  establish- 
ing their  mission  of  St.  Ignatius. 

To  all  this,  La  Tour  replied  with  so  much  suavity 
and  apparent  cordiality,  that  it  would  have  made  a 


r 


r  ' 


MARCHWNEBS  BE  QVERCHEVILLE. 


69 


great  iiDDression  upon  the  strangers,  had  they  not 
themselves  been  perfect  masters  of  the  same  art,  with 
no  more  sincerity  than  that  of  their  host.  Whatever 
they  thouglit  of  each  other  at  heart,  there  was  a  regal 
feast  of  squirrel  broth,  brook  trout  and  salmon,  of 
black  duck  and  wood-pigeons,  of  venison  and  moose 
meat,  of  the  wild  fruits  of  the  country,  of  wines 
from  over  the  sea,  and  of  brandy  flavored  with  blue- 
berries. 

The  fine  spirited  leaders  in  the  brisk  and  bright 
conversation  at  table,  with  great  delicacy,  found  out 
what  they  could  of  each  other,  and  imparted  as  little 
as  possible.  The  hours  flew  swiftly.  Always  com- 
plaisant. La  Tour  had  a  face  which  could  be  read  by 
no  man,  and  by  no  woman,  as  to  what  he  was  really 
thinking  about ;  he  appeared  to  give  much  informa- 
tion, even  if  irrelevant. 

He  sent  an  open  letter  to  Simon  Imbert,  bidding 
him  give  the  missionaries  and  colonists  the  use  of 
the  Pentagoliet  settlement ;  and  to  aid  them  in  their 
explorations  for  the  inland  mission  of  St,  Ignatius, 
which  was  to  be  located  at  the  mouth  of  tbtj  Ken- 
duskeag  stream.  He  even  sent  La  Plaque,  an  Indian 
spy,  along  with  his  guests  for  a  pilot, —  with  secret 
instructions  to  Imbert. 

The  Jesuit  fathers  could  but  remark  among  them- 
selves, as  they  sailed  westward,  what  a  great  acqui- 
sition to  the  Order,  La  Tour  would  prove,  if  he  could 
be  persuaded,  —  as  he  had  intimated  that  he  might  be, 
—  to  become  one  of  their  number.     It  had  not,  they 


r 


70 


C0N8TANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


admitted,  seemed  wise  to  him  at  that  time  to  invite 
one  of  them  to  become  his  confessor,  —  he  had,  it 
seemed  probable,  a  Huguenot  wife.  Indeed  it  was 
certain  that  not  a  cross,  not  a  saint's  relic,  not  an 
image  of  the  Saviour,  not  one  holy  painting  had  been 
seen  in  his  house.  To  liin  private  chapel,  he  had 
not,  however,  admitted  them.  He  had  said,  that  his 
wife  preferred  to  have  the  observance  of  his  holy 
hours  in  his  chapel.  It  had  been  made  apparent  to 
them,  that  he  was  a  devout  child  of  the  Churchy  as 
well  as  friendly  to  their  mission. 

Before  La  Plaque  was  sent  away  with  the  stran- 
gers, he  had  already  visited  the  L'Espdrance  en  Dieu, 
under  the  pretence  of  selling  vegetables  to  the  sail- 
ors ;  and  had  returned  laden  with  information,  of 
little  value  or  much,  as  to  the  real  purposes  of  the 
colonists  who  accompanied  the  missionaries.  They 
were  prepared  to  make  a  permanent  settlement  in 
western  Acadia ;  and  their  commander  had  the  royal 
promise  of  ultimately  controlling  the  trade  of  the 
Penobscot. 

La  Tour,  who  never  allowed  the  grass  to  grow 
under  his  feet  when  he  had  interests  at  stake,  set  out 
that  night  to  hurry  to  completion  his  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  John. 

He  left  a  letter  for  his  wife,  whose  return  was  im- 
minent, —  she  might  arrive  at  any  hour,  —  to  forward 
more  men,  provisions  and  munitions.  He  added  in 
a  postscript,  that  her  dreaded  Jesuit  mi,  oionaries  haa 
finally  appeared  in  Acadia,  and  that  he  had  sent 


MARCHIONESS   DE  QUERCHEVILLE. 


71 


them  as  far  off  as  possible,  under  instructions  to 
Imbert  to  give  them  no  advantage. 

It  was  written  upon  the  margin,  that  they  were 
under  the  leadership  of  Chevalier  Charles  de  Menou, 
Sieur  Hilaire  Charnacd. 


72 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


IK. 


A  FLOATIN'G  JESUIT. 


v-  'a 


'T^HE  Cavalier  Charles  de  ivlenou,  Sieur  Hilaire 
•'*"  Cliarnace,  of  La  Eochelle,^  was  better  known  in 
iiiH  matiive  years  as  Chaniact^ ;  his  father  having  been 
a  younger  brother  of  Baron  Hercule  Charnac^,  the 
most  eminent  of  the  Frei'ch  diplomats  in  the  age  of 
Ijouis  XIII.,  to  whom  the  l^ingdom  owed  so  much  of 
its  foreign  prestige. 

Charles  upon  leaving  his  early  home,  accompanied 
by  his  Jesuit  teacher  and  confessor  Palladio,  went 
fir.st  to  St.  Pol  de  Leon  in  Bretague ;  but  he  attracted 
too  much  attention  from  his  teachers  to  r  -in  in 
obscurity.  Upon  his  removal  to  the  Jesuit  college 
in  Paris,  his  conscience  was  placed  under  the  care 
of  Arrighi,  by  whom  he  was  introduced  to  Mme. 
de  Guerclieville. 

Her  drawing-room  offered  a  delightful  contrast  to 
his  lonely  cell  in  the  Rue  St.  Jacques.  Following  as 
it  did  upon  his  mendican*  life,  and  irksome  service 


1  Charles  la  Tour  was  comir. 
in  Re,  off  the  La  Rochel-    ''lari 
i.is  mother  there,  and  his 


inderstood  to  have  originated 
—  most  likely  from  the  death  of 
.hence  for  America. 


r 


A  FLOATING  JESUIT. 


73 


of  the  '.nose  wretched  of  men  in  the  hour  of  disease, 
it  seemad  like  re-entering  the  home  of  his  mother. 
>  The  Marchioness,  by  beautiful  words  and  matronly 
affection,  re-enforced  the  instruction  he  had  already 
received, — to  hold  himself  to  the  most  rigid  obedience, 
to  abandon  himself,  never  to  think  of  himself,  his 
mental,  or  even  moral  progress,  but  to  unbosom  all 
his  thoughts,  his  impulses,  his  character  in  its  inmost 
recesses  to  his  confessor  for  the  sole  purpose  of  abdi- 
cating his  own  will  and  judgment,  to  make  himself  a 
living  holocaust,  grateful  to  the  Divine  Majesty,  ren- 
dering to  the  nod  of  his  Superior  not  only  obedience 
in  his  will  but  in  his  intellect,  his  understanding,  — 
to  think  the  thoughts  of  his  Superior,  not  on  account 
of  the  Superior's  wisdom  but  because  he  is  in  God's 
place,  —  so  in  perfect  concord  completely  and  quickly 
executing  every  task,  —  never  so  much  as  once 
thinking  of  prudence  or  discretion  but  solely  of  obe- 
dience as  a  soldier  of  the  cross. 

Charnac^  was  charmed  with  his  new  instructor. 
It  was  a  renewal  of  his  boyhood  dreams,  to  converse 
with  an  intelligent  and  devout  woman.  Little  by 
little  he  was  led  to  defer  his  entering  upon  priestly 
vows ;  it  being  thought  that  his  peculiar  talents 
would  be  far  more  useful  at  present  in  secular  life. 
He  was  a  scholar  of  the  three  vows :  ^  but  when  it 
was  evident  to  his  superiors,  and  evident  to  himself, 
that  hp  WU3  likely  to  succeed  largely  in  a  business 
way ;  and  when  it  appep^fid  that  his  great  executive 

1  Poverty,  chastity,  obedience. 


.1 


oJ^iwitSi 


r- 


74 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


ability  fitted  him  to  become  the  responsible  head  of 
Acadian  colonization,  he  was  at  his  own  request  re- 
leased from  his  vows,  —  it  being  credible  that  he 
would  achieve  most  for  the  Church  if  not  bound  to 
personal  poverty,  that  his  vows  might  be  at  any  time 
renewed,  that  for  the  present,  the  Order  would  gain 
more  by  his  voluntary  obedience  and  private  gains 
and  inlluence  tlian  by  his  doing  the  same  business 
hampered  by  ecclesiastical  form. 

It  was  believed  that  the  heart  of  Loyola  was  in 
him,  trained  as  he  had  been  in  his  youth  to  some 
soldierly  service  in  his  native  city,  —  and  that  he 
would  serve  faithfully  the  behests  of  the  General  of 
the  Order. 

Re  had  indeed  the  heart  of  Loyola,  who  was  theo- 
retically inferior  to  the  Pope ;  but  who  in  practice 
did  what  he  had  a  mind  to,  when  his  judgment  and 
that  of  the  Pope  differed. 

Charles  of  R()  little  knew  what  valuable  informa- 
tion Charles  of  La  Rochelle  had  stolen  from  his 
house.  It  was  a  copy  of  Thomas  k  Kempis'  De  Imi- 
tatione  Christi,  inscribed  "  To  Constance  Bernon  from 
Sieur  Hilaire  Charnac^."  La  Tour  had  never  opened 
the  book,  or  seen  the  name  of  his  rival ;  and  he  did 
not  miss  it  when  his  rival  put  into  his  pocket  the 
keepsake,  which  he  had  given  to  Constance,  upon  the 
night  he  last  saw  her,  at  her  father's  house. 

In  his  oiled  clothing,  pacing  his  quarter-deck,  as 
the  rain  fell,  just  before  the  short  day  closed,  —  it 
was  the  first  of  December,  —  Charnacd  strained  his 


A  FLOATING  JESUIT. 


76 


tlie 


Ik,  as 

1— it 
his 


eyes  toward  the  black  firs  of  Cape  Sable,  thinking 
more  about  her  who  had  so  fingered  the  book  as 
almost  to  wear  it  out,  than  he  did  about  personally 
imitating  Christ. 

He  had  heard  that  she  had  perished  in  the  dread- 
ful siege  of  her  native  city.  But,  alas  for  him,  he 
had  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  in  that  fatal  house  of 
Charles  la  Tour,  not  only  this  precious  memento  of 
former  years,  but  here  and  there  about  the  living 
room,  and  by  the  door  ajar  in  the  little  sleeping  room 
that  led  out  of  it,  articles  of  apparel,  and  the  et  cetera 
a  woman  keeps  about  her,  which  were  like  those 
Constance  Bernon  affected  when  she  was  a  mere 
child. 

Then  too  he  had  found  the  margin  of  A  Kempis 
marked  in  Constance's  handwritii  .  f  date  within 
the  month :  —  "  Behold  me,  then,  Hungering  and 
thirsting  after  Thy  righteousness ;  and  let  me  not  be 
sent  empty  away." 

He  was  now  certain  that  Constance  was  alive, 
that  she  was  in  Acadia,  that  she  was  the  wife  of  that 
Protestant  hypocrite  Charles  la  Tour.  He  had  care- 
fully measured  the  man  with  hip  smooth  exterior; 
and  he  had  concluded  that  the  u^udiery  would  be  with 
himself.  He  believed  not  only  in  his  right  arm,  but 
in  that  religious  power  so  potent  with  his  King,  and 
in  that  mysterious  Order  which  was  mightier  than 
all  kings.     He  concluded  to  abide  his  time. 

Alas,  for  him,  his  heart  belonged  to  Constance,  and 
it  rose  up  in  rebellion;  she  had  always  owned  it; 


£mSmS 


-Mik     '  '■  jIt  w' 


.'INt:;',*.!* 


r 


I  m\\ 


\\ 


76 


'\is 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


f'^alty  to  his  teacher  hud  been  the  result  of  his 
aii;i  1  ion  to  be  somebody,  to  rise  with  the  rising  tide 
of  Jesuit  influence  in  Ids  native  country.  TTis  uncle's 
laurels  would  not  let  him  sleep.  Now  he  was  in  a 
fair  way  to  win  not  only  position,  but  great  wealth 


out  of  a  ^1-i'v 


'J 


so  soon  to  be  his  own.     Why  not 


now  give  his  heart  formally  to  Constance,  with  what- 
ever of  religion  there  might  be  in  it,  much  or  little  ? 

Having  deliberately  set  out  from  France  upon  a 
plot  to  ruin  the  Protestant  Lieutenant  General  of 
Acadia,  and  despoil  him  of  his  office,  his  fair  fame, 
and  his  goods,  should  he  not  despoil  him  also  of  his 
wife  ? 

It  was  news,  indeed,  that  he,  who  had  bnen  pro- 
nounced an  enemy  by  the  General  of  the  -fvisuits, 
held  a  wife.  It  was  news,  that  she  was  Coi  ance 
Bernon  risen  from  the  gaunt  famine  heaps  of  La 
Pochelle.  Was  Constance  indeed  alive  ?  Had  Cod 
accepted  all  the  masses  he  had  offered  for  her  safety, 
in  that  grim  war  which  —  had  he  been  in  power  — 
he  '  /ould  1    ve  prevented  for  her  sake  ? 

It  must  be  that  her  Guardian  Andrei,  whom  he  had 
always  looked  on  as  his  own  rival  for  the  affections 
cf  Constanct ,  had  snatched  her  away  before  the  doom 
fell  upon  hf  •  lather's  house.  He  remembered  now, 
that  he^  dder  brother  Godefroi  had  already  entered 
into  tl  ^4.ca<iian  fur  trade,  in  a  small  way,  and  that 
he  had  spoken  of  extending  his  business. 

This  discovery  of  Constance  in  New  France  must 
be  considered.     It  might  put  a  new  face  upon  his 


r 


A  FLOATING  JESUIT. 


77 


pro- 
suits, 
ance 
f  La 
L.oJ 
lafety, 


had 
btiona 
Icloom 

now, 
Itcred 

that 

Imust 
bis 


plans ;  it  certainly  gave  him  a  new  motive  in  life. 
Had  he  not  already  rapped  his  knuckles  upon  the 
gilded  world,  and  found  it  hollow  If,  after  all,  he 
had  been  mistaken,  and  there  was  a  woman  in  it,  if 
Constance  was  still  alive,  he  had  something  more  to 
live  for  than  gathering  fur  and  coin,  and  building  up 
an  ecclesiastical  organization  which  had,  so  far,  failed 
to  fulfil  the  dreams  of  his  youth. 

Piety,  to  be  sure,  there  was  piety ;  but  the  same 
quality  existed  outside  the  Order,  —  here  was  Thomas 
k  Kempis.  And  for  Constance,  she  wa.i  certainly  as 
good  as  her  Guardian  Angel,  whoever  he  might  be. 

Piety,  —  to  be  sure  he  himself  had  gained  too  lit- 
tle of  it  in  all  these  years.  Was  he  at  heart  any 
better  than  he  was  when  he  disputed  with  Constance, 
and  despised  her  wise  words  ?  Who  now  should  be 
his  teacher,  if  by  all  his  schooling  he  had  not  already 
learned  the  way  of  life  ?  He  had  trampled  upon  the 
human  heart,  and  tried  to  efface  from  the  earth  do- 
mestic affection,  to  make  himself  the  part  of  an 
Order,  —  to  become  in  the  words  of  his  founder,  "  like 
a  little  crucifix,  which  ii\  turned  about  at  the  will  of 
him  who  holds  it."  Now,  indeed,  he  was  dead  to  the 
Order,  and  alive  to  Constance. 

Nature  moves  by  extremes.  The  pendulum  in  the 
heart  of  Charnac^  was  swinging  back  to  the  point 
where  it  was  before  the  Jesuits  mastered  him. 

And  he  paced  tlie  deck  first  in  the  gentle  rain, 
then  in  the  soft  falling  snow,  as  the  weather  changed 
in  his  long  night  watch.     Indeed,  there  was  now  no 


78 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


occasion  to  sleep,  if  Constance  was  still  alive.  That 
she  was  married  made  no  difference.  He  had  seen 
too  much  of  French  society  to  consider  that  an  ob- 
stacle. Four  thousand  men  of  gentle  blood  had  per- 
ished by  duels  in  his  own  country  within  a  score  of 
years.^  Charles  la  Tour  should  die ;  or  he  would 
himself  willingly  die,  upon  the  brink  of  this  great 
wilderness. 

Their  plan,  however,  —  that  is,  the  plan  of  the 
General  of  the  Jesuits,  —  contemplated  war,  if  need 
be,  to  dispossess  his  wily  and  powerful  rival ;  war,  as 
soon  as  his  present  reconnoitring  expedition  could 
be  wisely  supplemented  by  suitable  forces  to  be 
brought  to  Acadia ;  war  to  be  begun  with  or  without 
provocation,  —  then  to  be  justified  to  the  King,  who 
was  in  leading  strings,  then  authorized  by  him  upon 
the  ground  that  La  Tour  was  in  the  wrong,  —  surely 
all  this  would  be  a  small  thing  for  the  accom- 
plished Jesuits  in  the  King's  confidence  to  compass. 

Now,  who  could  tell  what  the  chances  of  war 
might  be  ?  Constance  would  live ;  and  she  would 
have  a  husband  left.  Who  he  might  be,  depended 
upon  the  power  of  France,  when  brought  to  bear 
against  Acadia.  France  would  no  longer  tolerate  the 
Protestant  La  Tour,  who  was  to  be  set  forth  as  a 


*  A  note  in  Masson's  Richelieu  states  that  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  it  was  not  uncommon  for  the  Catholic  clergy,  who  were 
often  sensitive  and  touchy  upon  many  points,  and  who  were  rarely 
seen  in  professional  garb,  to  fight  duels.  Private  combat  was  in 
that  age  more  fatal  to  the  best  blood  of  France  than  even  war. 


hat       ^ 

een 

ob- 

per- 

e  of 

ould 

;reat 

the 
need 
ir,  as 
could 
io  be 
thout 
;,  who 
upon 
urely 
com- 
ass. 
war 
ould 
nded 
bear 
e  the 
as  a 

id  fifty 
10  were 
rarely 
[was  in 
Ir. 


A  FLOATING  JESUIT. 


79 


traitor;  the  Bastile  was  ready,  and  the  headsman, 
—  and  there  had  been  political  murders  on  less 
grounds. 

But  what  would  Constance  say  ?  No  matter  now. 
Charnac^  had  come  to  that  time  of  life  when  he  had 
no  sentiment,  no  wish,  no  passion,  but  he  had  pur- 
pose ;  he  would  not  brook  denial ;  he  would  have 
what  he  wanted ;  he  could,  and  he  would.  What 
was  a  woman  in  the  wilderness  ?  If  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  marry,  he  purposed  to  do  it.  And  who 
should  hinder  him  ? 

But  Constance  would  not  refuse  him,  whenever  he 
should  renounce  the  Order,  and  give  her  his  whole 
heart.  What  was  La  Tour  to  her  ?  Nothing,  he 
was  certain.  He  knew  the  wife  too  well;  and  he 
had  seen  her  husband.  Her  husband  was  a  politic, 
self  seeking,  self  satisfied,  fur  trader  and  politician  ; 
he  was  not  a  man.  He  might  as  well  die  on  the  block. 
The  Acadian  world  would  not  miss  him.  Charnac^ 
could  look  after  the  beaver  pelts  and  the  cod  fish,  and 
the  government  of  the  country ;  and  do  it  all  before 
breakfast  daily,  and  spend  his  days  rationally  with 
his  wife. 

Would  it  be  possible,  —  and  at  this  point  Charnac^ 
paused  long  to  consider,  —  that  Charles  of  La  Rochelle 
should  ever  in  this  life  become  so  transformed  in 
character  as  to  become  to  Constance  a  tolerable  sub- 
stitute for  her  Guardian  Angel  ? 

"  Breakers  ahead !  Breakers  ahead  !  on  the  star- 
board quarter ! "  shouted  the  man  on  the  lookout. 


Ill 


I 


r 


80 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


Putting  about  his  helm,  and  standing  away  to  the 
open   sea,  Charnac^   turned  in,   and  slept  till   the 


morning. 


Mean'  Ime  Charles  la  Tour,  was  —  in  the  self  com- 
placent night  watches  —  making  long  tacks  in  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  with  his  heart  intent  upon  fortifying 
his  valuable  Indian  trade.  It  had  never  entered  his 
mind,  that  St.  John  was  the  disciple  beloved  of 
Jesus,  an  holy  apostle.  St.  John  was  —  to  La  Tour 
—  merely  a  fur  trader  at  a  good  point ;  and  he 
should  have  a  fort  for  his  defence  against  predatory 
traders  who  were  none  the  better  for  being  followers 
of  Loyola. 


THE  NIGHT  WATCH. 


81 


X. 


THE  NIGHT  WATCH. 


T  TPON  tho  first  of  December,  the  early  morning 
^^  sun  shone  clearly  upon  the  fine  harbor,  and  the 
large  timber  of  La  Heve ;  as  it  had  shone  during  in- 
numerable ages  upon  the  eastern  margin  of  a  lone 
continent  covered  with  a  wilderness,  waiting  for  the 
dawn  of  human  civilization.  Constance  was  early  astir, 
moving  in  the  edge  of  the  forest,  and  her  Souriquois 
people  were  smoking  themselves  in  their  huts  in  the 
attempt  tc  get  breakfast. 

An  inch  or  two  of  snow  like  a  heavy  hoar  frost 
was  thinly  scattered  in  patches  over  the  newly  burnt 
clearings  and  the  margin  of  the  sea.  The  sky  soon 
however  began  to  gather  vapor,  which  hung  in  dra- 
pery folds.  Some  portions  of  the  sky  looked  as  if  a 
field  of  cloud  had  been  ploughed  in  furrows ;  and 
in  other  parts,  the  fleecy  clouds  were  regularly  but 
loosely  arranged,  not  unlike  the  receding  hangings 
over  a  theatrical  stage.  The  sun  poured  down 
through  the  rifts,  illuminating  portions  of  the  sea 
with  intense  brilliancy.  The  watery  waste  was  not 
yet  stilled  after  the  late  heavy  blow.  Far  off  upon 
the  horizon  the  sunbeams  were  tossing  upon  a  myriad 


82 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


points  of  quickly  changing  waves.  Nearer  the  shore 
the  sea  was  dark  by  cloud  shadows.  Nearer  still 
•  was  another  narrow  strip  of  sunshine  dancing  on  the 
sea.  And  the  waters  near  shore  were  sullen  in 
shadow. 

From  the  heights  upon  which  she  stood,  Constance 
could  see  a  ship  far  to  the  southwest,  makinc^  toward 
Cape  Sable  under  the  light  air  now  upon  her  lar- 
board quarter.  A  cloud  rift  over  her,  let  down  the 
sunshine  like  a  benediction ;  so  that  she  rode  with 
ghost-like  sails  of  unearthly  whiteness,  —  as  if 
bleached  by  processes  unknown,  and  sailing  in  su- 
pernatural light ;  but  the  hither  sea  was  black,  and 
the  headlands  westward  were  gloomy  with  clouds, 
which  hung  so  low  and  so  dense,  that  it  was  like 
cloud  land  ready  to  fall  upon  rock,  hill,  and  forest. 

Judging  that  the  wind  would  haul  re  nnd  to  the 
eastward,  and  save  her  some  beating,  Constance  de- 
layed a  little  hoisting  the  sail  of  her  sliallop,  the 
Sable,  for  the  home  voyage.  She  saw  the  far-off 
stranger  disappearing  behind  the  dark  shores  west- 
ward ;  the  sable  cloud  lighted  a  little,  but  still  hung 
in  that  quarter,  —  till  the  wind  shifted,  then  the 
sable  cloud  was  blown  off.  The  melody  of  the  sea 
deepened  upon  the  shore;  heavier  billows  surged 
around  the  islands  and  upon  the  shingle  beaches; 
and  Constance  set  sail  before  the  freshening  breeze, 
—  scudding  swiftly  over  a  slightly  pitching  sea,  run- 
ning free  before  the  wind  to  the  sweet  music  of  the 
water  rippling  against  the  bows  of  the  Sable.     The 


THE  NIOHT  WATCH. 


83 


iliung 
the 
le  sea 
irged 
ches ; 
ireeze, 
run- 
f  the 
The 


changing  sun  and  shadow  of  the  early  morning  con- 
tinued first  to  lighten  then  to  darken  the  features  of 
her  Indian  boatmen. 

Later  in  the  day  the  wings  of  the  wind  were  laden 
with  light  sheets  of  moisture,  with  which  the  atmos- 
phere near  Fundy  is  often  surcharged  by  the  moving 
of  so  vast  a  body  of  water,  rising  and  falling  to  such 
height.  Under  the  great  veil  Constance  gave  the 
helm  to  Nibi,  and  tlien  she  slept ;  the  Sable  under 
new  canvas  moving  like  a  spirit  along  the  dimly 
lighted  aisles  of  the  ocean. 

Toward  night  the  air  lightened ;  and  the  rain  set 
in, — li.tl'3  of  it,  but  the  more  welcome  as  sooner 
conveying  to  the  voyagers  the  upswelling  massive 
tone  of  the  tide  bell  off  the  home  harbor.  The  wind 
had  slackened,  and  Constance  could  hear  bursts  of 
sound  as  the  billows  thundered  upon  the  ledges,  and 
the  notes  of  the  bell  at  first  faintly  stealing  over  the 
surface  of  the  s'^a  like  a  low  dirge  from  viewless  lands, 
then  the  weird  floating  music  came  in  deep  peals,  as 
if  ringing  from  far  off  cathedrals.  The  tide  bell  was 
left  beliind,  toiling  in  the  darkness;  and  the  lights 
by  which  to  enter  safely  were  seen  glimmering 
athwart  the  uneasy  surface  of  the  inner  basin. 
Sweeter  far  than  the  bell  chime,  was  the  noise  of  the 
fierce  watch  do^s  which  Constance  heard  when  Ta- 
pouse  and  Nibi  brought  her  to  the  welcome  landing. 

All  day,  whether  restless  or  reposing,  the  heart  of 
Constance  had  been  filled  with  foreboding;.  It  can- 
not  be  said  that  lier  eyes  were  holden  from  what  was 


/^ 


84 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


m 


about  to  be  revealed.  If  she  had  the  practical  en- 
ergy, good  sense,  fine  organizing  power,  and  spiritu- 
ality of  the  Abbess  Angeliqne,  she  had  also  not  only 
the  devout  mind  of  Madame  Guyon  but  her  second 
sight.  The  very  instant  her  eyes  had  rested  upon 
that  strangely  illuminated  ship  in  the  morning  light, 
she  had  a  half  belief  thi.t  Charnac^  had  followed  her 
into  the  new  world,  as  a  .fesuit  missionary. 

By  a  pitch  knot  shf,  read  her  husband's  letter. 
Missing  her  Thomas  k  Kempis,  she  knew  that 
Charles,  —  not  La  Tour  who  never  appeared  to  know 
that  it  was  in  the  house,  —  had  taken  it. 

With  inexpressible  agony  she  prayed  all  night. 
First,  however,  by  well  ordered  forethought,  she  set 
the  men  to  preparing  a  sloop  for  the  fortifying  of  St. 
John ;  that  they  might  sail  as  soon  as  the  weather 
should  change.  It  was  a  kind  of  care  which  rested 
lightly  upon  her,  this  direction  of  men  in  preparing 
for  St.  John ;  toiling  all  night  —  not  leaving  her 
work  to  pray  alone,  she  shut  the  doors  of  her  heart 
and  communed  with  Him  who  seeth  in  secret.  The 
ordering  of  potatoes,  corn,  powder,  ball,  oak,  iron,  salt, 
salt  junk,  cordage,  canvas,  clothing,  axes,  muskets, 
traps,  and  cannon,  disturbed  her  serenity  of  soul  as 
little  as  the  smooth  and  silent  sea  is  vexed  by  the 
curling  fog  which  sweeps  over  it  near  Port  Latour  in 
dogdays. 

I  said  that  it  was  with  anguish  unspeakable  that  she 
prayed  all  night.  Unknown  sorrows  are  always  bod- 
ing beneath  the  calm  and  silent  sea.    Wrecks,  and 


r 


■  "f^.-  .'  *.»,■. ■■^■■■'■^■' ' 


THE  NIGHT  WATCH. 


85 


jart 
?he 
salt, 
lets, 
as 
I  the 


in 


[she 
md 


dead  men's  bones,  and  all  manner  of  foul  things 
crawling  or  dead,  —  the  slime,  the  garbage,  the  off- 
scouring  of  all  the  world  are  foijnd  in  the  depths  of 
ocean. 

Had  not  Constance  sometimes  reproached  herself, 
that  she  had  clung  to  the  Pauline  text  not  to  be  im- 
equally  yoked  with  an  unbeliever  ?  Had  not  Paul 
also  said,  that  the  believing  v^rife  should  win  to  the 
faith  her  unbelieving  husband  ?  What  might  not 
Charles  of  La  Eochelle  have  become,  if  she  had 
married  him  ?  The  very  foremost  of  the  religious 
reformers  of  i^rance,  she  was  half  ready  to  believe. 

Still  she  could  not  rid  herself  of  her  woman's 
instinct,  which  had  told  her,  that  he  had  never  given 
her  more  than  a  fragment  of  his  heart.  On  the  other 
hand,  as  she  herself  had  clung  to  the  God  of  her 
youth,  making  Him  first  in  her  life,  she  could  not 
blame  Charles  of  La  Eochelle  for  clin<^in<T  to  what 
religious  ideas  he  had,  after  the  Jesuits  had  the  han- 
dling of  him  at  ten  years  old.  Could  his  mother 
have  lived,  it  might  have  been  different. 

The  experience  of  her  Married  life  had  made  it  cer- 
tain, that  Charles  la  Tour  of  La  Tour  was  less  spirit- 
ually minded  than  he  would  have  been  in  a  world  of 
less  traffic  and  of  smaller  political  possibilities. 

Then  she  gathered  up  all  her  loyalty  of  heart  toward 
God  and  toward  man,  and  prayed ;  prayed  with  eyes 
flowing  with  scalding  tears,  —  amid  nil  her  directions 
given  in  those  hours  when  the  thickening  rain  was 
giving  place  to  snow  in  the  cooler  temperature  after 


86 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


midnight.  She  prayed  for  her  husband,  that  in  his 
personal  life  she  might  be  to  him  a  conscience  incar- 
nate, quickening  and  reinforcing  his  own  moral  sense  ; 
and  that  he  might  have  such  good  sense  in  affairs  as 
would  make  him  the  fit  instrument  for  planting  a 
French  Protestant  nation  in  Acadia. 

And  then,  the  more  surely  to  strike  where  the 
blow  was  needed,  she  prayed  respecting  Kings  and 
Jesuits,  the  Pope,  and  the  Eeformation,  —  for  Eng- 
land as  well  as  France.  Well  kIic  might  do  this,  since 
Acadia  was  kicked  like  a  foot  ball  between  France 
and  England  five  times  within  the  century ;  and  all 
her  own  wit  and  wisdom  and  that  of  the  two  Charleses 
in  Acadia  availed  as  little  (save  as  their  own  spirits 
were  disciplined  by  their  attempts  to  do  what  seemed 
to  them  present  duty,)  as  their  own  attempts  when 
new  and  green  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  —  not  knowing 
the  habit  of  the  ocean  on  that  coast,  —  to  stem  the 
outrush  or  tlie  inrush  of  tides  from  thirty  to  sixty 
feet  high,  swinging  this  way  or  that  with  the  whole 
force  of  the  Atlantic  behind  it. 

She  did  wisely,  indeed,  to  pray  for  the  foolish 
Kings  Charles  and  Louis,  neither  of  whom,  perhaps, 
deserved  to  have  a  head  upon  his  shoulders. 

She  prayed  for  the  stranger  ship  moving  westward 
in  the  niglit.  Her  men  had  turned  in  for  a  short 
sleep  before  dawn ;  and  she  walked  up  and  down  tlie 
pier,  in  the  gently  driving  snow,  —  and  all  her  old 
life  upon  the  coast  of  France  came  back  to  her. 
But  she  calmed  herself,  when  she  prayed  for  the  ship 


THE  NIGHT  WATCH. 


87 


ang 


aps, 


Ihort 
the 
old 

J  her. 

Iship 


silently  sailing  toward  the  Penobscot.  She  stood 
still  at  the  cable  post,  upon  the  verge  of  high  tide, 
and  prayed  most  earnestly  for  tlie  beautiful  river, 
that  it  might  not"  become  the  home  of  the  papal 
church  in  America.  And,  —  somehow  she  was 
strangely  drawn  to  it,  —  she  prayed  that  the  eyes  of 
her  child  friend  might  be  opened  in  the  ligiit  of  a 
new  world ;  and  that  he  might  reopen  the  Bible, 
which  he  had  learned  to  read  at  his  mother's  knee. 

It  did  not  enter  her  heart,  that  Charnac^  still 
cared  for  herself  personally.  She  thought  of  him  — 
it  is  strange  that  she  did  so  in  view  of  all  that  came 
to  pass  —  as  cold  at  heart,  like  an  iceberg. 

Standing  long  upon  the  verge  of  the  pier  at  high 
tide,  with  the  light  snow  falling  upon  her,  it  is  possi- 
ble that  she  was  slightly  chilled.  But  there  came 
vividly  into  her  mind  the  forms  of  ice  she  had  seen 
drifting  through  the  seas,  among  the  icebergs,  when 
she  came  upon  the  American  coast,  before  reaching 
Acadia.  Constance  remembered,  rising  twenty  feet 
out  of  the  sea,  not  far  from  the  ship,  a  finely  pro- 
portioned vase  of  pure  ice,  —  fluted,  decorated,  glow- 
ing with  tints  emerald  and  sapphire,  —  the  sea  water 
spouting  from  the  brim,  and  the  waves  tossing  their 
spray  upon  the  sides  of  the  stem  and  falling  back 
in  foam  upon  the  pedestal.  Half  the  bowl  burst  off 
with  a  sharp  crack ;  and  it  all  fell  with  a  heavj'' 
pliirige  into  the  sea. 

As  \L  her  mind  was  in  some  prophetic  mood,  she 
could   not   clear   her   imagination   of  this   imagery. 


r 


88 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Before  Charnac^  left  lier  side  in  her  father's  house, 
she  remembered  thinking  of  him,  as  of  polished  steel, 
possibly  of  plate  armor,  —  but  that  was  not  cold 
enough  as  she  thought  of  him  now.  The  exquisitely 
polished  forms  of  ice  floating  in  the  sea,  —  touched 
and  retouched  by  the  sun  and  by  the  waves,  till  tliey 
are  like  crystal,  or  pearl,  —  this  was  all  she  could 
think  of. 

His  heart  must,  indeed,  have  been  cold  and  glitter- 
ing, like  an  island  of  ice ;  else  he  would  have  melted 
under  the  warmth  of  aflection  that  had  surrounded 
his  youth. 

She  thouglit  of  him  now,  as  sent  out  by  his  Supe- 
rior to  proclaim —  what?  Not  the  love  of  God,  the 
warmth  of  divine  friendship  for  man ;  but  wiiat 
looked  to  her  like  an  ice-cutting  machine,  to  saw  out 
mere  crystalline  vases. 

The  spiritual  terror  awakened  in  her  mind,  by  the 
appearance  of  Churnace  in  Acadia,  was  based  upon 
the  belief  that  there  might  be  personal  collision ;  each 
friend  beii-g  actuated  by  the  sense  of  a  divine  mis- 
sion, —  missions  opposed  driving  them  apart. 

Constance  could  not  bring  her  mind  to  pray  in 
respect  to  her  old-time  lover,  save  that  he  might  see 
new  truth  in  a  new  world.  But  in  the  small  hours 
of  the  night,  she  did  pray  most  earnestly  against  the 
success  of  the  colonial  plans  of  the  Marchioness  de 
Guercheville. 


lie 


A  FEUDAL  CASTLE. 


89 


XI. 


A  FEUDAL  CASTLE. 


TT  indicated  good  sense  on  the  part  of  La  Tour  that 
■*■  he  named  his  next  fort  for  the  king  he  intended 
to  serve,  —  Fort  La  Tour.  When  Constance  final]}- 
mt)ved  thither  from  Fort  Louis>  leaving  it  in  charge 
of  Simon  Imbert  wliose  room  was  more  desired  than 
his  company  by  the  Jesuits  at  Pentagouei,^  she  could 
not  help  teasing  her  husband  a  little  that  he  had 
become  a  papist, — which  she  discovered  by  no  change 
of  life  or  even  of  views,  bu*-  by  his  being  so  denomi- 
nated in  rhe  land  grant  of  fifty  square  leagues  from 
Louis  XI il  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John,  or  the 
Ouangondy  as  the  Indians  had  called  it.^ 

"It  is,"  replied  Lieutenant  General  La  Tour  to 
Constance,  "as  proper  that  I  should  become  a  Catholic 
for  the  public  interest,  as  that  Henry  IV.  should  have 
done  so." 

"  Lecherous  and  treacherous  are  the  European 
kings,"  answered  Constance.     "The  feudal  lords  of 

1  The  use  of  the  Penobscot  station  had  been  now  given  to  the 
Jesuit  fathers  for  a  term  of  years. 

2  The  river  was  discovered  by  Champlain,  upon  St.  John's 
day,  1604. 


90 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


America  will  be  best,  P"d  do  best,  to  stand  upon 
their  own  feet.  I  fere  jcjst  Louis  shall  abandon 
you,  after  all.  The  kin<^  is  none  the  less  likely  to 
betray  you,  for  your  refusal  to  betray  him  on  the 
Penobscot." 

"  This  land  grant  does  not  look  as  if  he  intended 
to  desert  me." 

"  Is  it  not  rather,"  asked  Constance, "  a  mere  sop 
thrown  to  you,  to  keep  you  quiet,  while  Kazilly  and 
Charnace  take  possession  of  the  whole  country  ? " 

"  It  had  not  occurred  to  me  that  way,"  suid  La 
Tour.  "Acadia  is  a  large  area.  The  sending  out  of 
Eazilly  as  governor  will  be  helpful,  not  injurious. 
The  development  of  the  country  will  increase  values. 
And  Charnace  is  not  likely  to  have  political  aspira- 
tions, if  he  finds  preferment  in  the  Church." 

"  Simon  Imbert  believes  from  the  talk  of  the  colo- 
nists, that  Charnacd  has  already  a  Lieutenant  Gover- 
nor's commission  in  his  pocket,"  remarked  Constance. 
"And  I  gathered  the  same  thing  from  what  Governor 
Eazilly  let  fall,  when  he  came  to  Fort  Louis  to  get 
your  permission  to  settle  on  the  Scotch  grant  at 
La  mve" 

"  The  concessions  I  made  to  Bazilly  will  not  fail  to 
benefit  me,"  said  La  Tour.  "  Aud  if  there  had  been 
anything  in  the  rumor  of  a  subordinate  commission 
to  Charnac^j,  the  Governor  would  have  told  me.  He 
is  amiable.  So  long  as  he  lives  there  will  be  no 
trouble  in  Acadia." 

"  The  most  that  I  get  out  of  my  husband's  baro- 


A   FEUDAL   CASTLE. 


91 


get 


il  to 

jeen 

sion 

He 

no 

iro- 


netcy,  aside  from  the  pleasure  of  his  company,"  said 
a  merry  rincjjinf?  voice  in  tlie  hall,  "is  vvliat  I  get  from 
my  horse   md  hounds  and  liunting-horn." 

Upoii  thii,  Henrietta  now  appeared  in  her  hunting 
'fn-L    OSS  of  her  greeting  increased  i;}'  lie 
>he  had  gained  by  her  second    v;  ae," 
h     sporting  reputation  which  Fort  Ijsl 


bel   , 
vigor  of 
in  A 
Tour  c 


^0  the  traditions  of  a  later  age  was  due 
to  Henricc.,.6  ardor  in  the  chase,  not  to  Constance 
who  had  no  taste  for  the  exliilaration  of  being  upon 
the  alert  for  a  buck  breaking  the  dry  twigs.  La  Tour 
and  his  father  were  occupied  with  a  saw-mill,  and 
with  quarrying  for  finishing  the  fort.  Henrietta  took 
it  upon  herself  to  keep  the  men  in  meat,  which  was 
no  difficult  task,  —  tlie  caribou  and  the  red  deer 
being  within  easy  reach. 

Henrietta  did  honor  to  her  queen  in  adapting 
herself  to  a  hut  in  the  wilderness  as  cheerily  as  to 
a  palace,  as  if  Castle  La  Tour  were  Whitehall.  In 
garments  of  thick  gray  frieze,  she  hesitated  not  upon 
occasion  to  handle  the  woodman's  axe,  or  to  cut  holes 
in  the  ice  to  fish  for  dinner,  or  to  mount  her  snow- 
shoes  and  follow  a  moose.  The  abounding  health, 
vouchsafed  to  so  many  women  in  the  long  winters  of 
the  North,  was  so  fully  manifest  in  the  first  white 
woman  in  New  Brunswick,  that  she  never  yielded 
the  palm  to  a  squaw  in  anything  that  pertained 
to  helping  herself,  or  to  helping  those  around  her. 
Blithely  she  bore  more  than  her  share  of  life's  heavier 
burdens.     She  had  the  health  to  do  it;  and  it  was 


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92 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


her  belief,  that  her  husband  was  the  better  balanced 
for  it, —  more  delicate  in  his  attention,  more  winsome 
and  womanly  in  his  affection, — having  a  wife  "strong 
enough  to  tie  to,"  as  the  wiry  Acadian  boatmen  were 
wont  to  express  it. 

The  St.  John  fortress  makes  a  large  figure  in  the 
American  Orient,  as  sheltering  the  brave  and  the  beau- 
tiful. And  it  is  one  of  the  stories  of  early  Acadian 
winters,  which  mothers  have  heard  from  their  mothers 
during  eight  generations,  that,  when  the  yearly  French 
packet  returned,  wines  were  so  abundant  as  to  be 
served  three  quarts  to  a  man  per  diem.  It  was  in 
those  days,  that  happy  Acadia  was  free  from  the  noise 
of  war.  The  Micmac  Scozway,  who  won  such  a  repu- 
tation as  the  best  fiddler  of  his  time  along  the  New 
England  shore,  first  practised  in  Fort  La  Tour ;  and 
his  "pretty,  odd,  barbarous  tunes"  have  an  established 
place  in  history. 

There  came  from  over  the  sea  domestic  heirlooms 
of  the  house  of  Bernon,  and  certain  pieces  out  of 
ancestral  Piedmont.  And  there  came  to  the  castle 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Ouangondy  refugees  straight 
out  of  the  fires  of  persecution  in  the  old  world; 
and  they  were  set  to  repose  under  tlie  peaceful  and 
musical  pines  of  the  Acadian  rivers.  That  riches 
were  abundant,  that  there  was  a  great  gathering  of 
war  material,  that  there  was  much  drilling  of  soldiers 
and  training  of  Indian  scouts,  —  we  gather  from  the 
old  tradition;  and  we  should  hear  much  more  but 
for  the  roar  of  great  guns,  which  soon  arose  over  the 


r 


A  FEUDAL  CASTLE. 


93 


swirling  waters,  where  the  swift  current  of  the  river 
mingles  with  the  tides  of  ocean. 

The  mouth  of  the  St.  John  was  fortified  by  nature 
before  La  Tour  touched  it.  Mighty  gates  were  erected 
not  far  above  the  fort,  which  kept  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
from  overwhelming  with  its  roaring  tides  the  great 
Bay  of  Kenebekawskoi  above  the  narrows  of  the 
river ;  and  which  kept  the  great  river  from  degener- 
ating into  a  mere  estuary^of  the  Atlantic,  for  at  least 
the  score  of  miles  covered  by  an  inland  basin.  The 
narrows  are  only  eighty  yards  wide,  and  four  hundred 
long.  A  ridge  of  rocks  makes  across  this  flume  way, 
at  such  height  as  to  give  only  seventeen  feet  of  water 
at  low  tide ;  this  makes  a  reversible  waterfall,  twice 
in  every  tide.  The  average  tide  is  twenty  feet :  when 
the  tide  is  out,  tha  river  is  twelve  feet  higher 
than  the  ocean,  —  and  the  downpouring  fall  is  twelve 
feet  high ;  at  high  tide  the  ocean  is  five  feet  higher 
than  the  river,  and  the  cataract  is  reversed,  —  flow- 
ing up  the  river  and  falling  five  feet.  There  are 
only  about  ten  minutes  during  each  outflow  or  inflow, 
in  which  tha  cascade  is  at  a  level,  when  shipping  can 
pass  the  point. 

At  all  this,  a  stranger  is  perplexed  not  a  little.  He 
goes  to  the  hidden  ledge ;  and  he  sees  no  waterfall. 
In  a  few  minutes  he  goes  again,  and  there  is  a  dis- 
tinct, sharply  defined  fall,  tumbling  up  the  river ;  in 
a  few  hours  he  sees  it  a  great  cataract.  Then  it  all 
dies  away  again,  and  the  river  is  smooth.  Next  he 
beholds  the  whole  thing  reversed.     In  great  freshets. 


94 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


the  tides  do  not  rise  to  the  level  of  the  river;  and 
then  the  falls  pour  seaward  all  the  time,  and  are 
as  impassable  as  Niagara. 

It  ought  not,  thought  La  Tour,  to  be  very  hard  to 
protect  this  dam  during  the  few  moments  of  daily 
passage.  He  therefore  felt  very  secure  in  his  fort ; 
which  stood  upon  a  gentle  rise  of  ground,  at  an  angle 
commanding  the  harbor  and  the  sharp  turn  made  by 
the  river  in  entering.  It  was  located  perhaps  half  a 
mile  below  the  falls,  at  the  tip  of  a  tongue  of  land 
which  juts  out  toward  what  is  now  Navy  Island ; 
to  which  a  bar  makes  out  at  low  water,  extend- 
ing beyond  the  point  of  the  peninsula  upon  which 
stands  the  city  of  St.  John.  The  town  of  Carleton 
has  now  nearly  overgrown  the  ancient  site  of  Fort 
La  Tour,  a  portion  of  the  earth-works  remaining  a 
few  yeara  since. 

The  fort  wa  -^f  stone,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet 
square,  with  .'  bastions  at  the  angles ;  so  cornering 
as  to  bring  two  bastions  toward  the  lov»^er  harbor, 
two  toward  the  upper,  and  two  inland,  —  the  tongue 
of  land  admitting  of  such  defence.  There  were 
palisades  without ;  and  within,  two  dwellings,  and 
a  chapel,  and  the  usual  storage  for  munitions  and 
soldiery. 

So  La  Tour  was  ready  to  stand  at  odds  with  the 
world,  armed  with  twenty  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance. 


•^l 


■  H-.  -'T'   ,. 


THE  QUEEN  OF  ACADIA. 


96 


XII. 


THE  QUEEN  OF  ACADIA. 


igue 
^ere 
aud 
and 

the 

be. 


"  I  ^0  set  every  Jesuit  to  act  as  a  spy  on  every  other 
-*•  Jesuit  was  fundamental  to  the  system  of  that 
Order,  which  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  played 
such  an  important  part  in  Europe,  and  which  at- 
tempted to  control  America  in  place  of  what  Blaxton 
of  Shawmut  called  the  tyranny  of  the  lords-brethren. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  state  of  things  in  Bos- 
ton under  Winthrop,  it  is  certain,  that  those  who 
sought  to  control  the  Bay,  and  who  trimmed  off  ears 
they  thought  too  long  upon  the  Mystic,  only  lacked 
organization  to  become  the  master  tyrants  of  the 
world. 

Looking  at  it  merely  as  a  machine,  —  without  once 
inquiring  what  became  of  human  hearts,  of  longings, 
of  affections,  of  the  homes  of  the  world,  and  of  reli- 
gious and  civil  liberty,  —  it  is  impossible  to  sit  down 
calmly  and  face  the  system  of  Loyola,  as  it  was  in 
the  days  of  its  supreme  glory,  without  an  admiration, 
bordering  upon  awe,  before  an  Ism  which  took  men 
in  multitudes,  and  uncovered  every  secret  thought 
and  aspiration,  and  adaptation,  then  linked  them 
together  by  oaths  to  each  other  and  to  God,  not  only 


96 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


to  do  what  they  were  commanded  to  do  by  a  Supe- 
rior, who  stood  to  them  in  the  place  of  God  re- 
quiring unquestioning  obedience,  but  to  act  as  spies 
upon  each  other,  reporting  to  the  Superior  every 
variation  in  word  or  act  which  might  indicate  a 
swerving  even  of  a  thought  on  the  part  of  a  single 
brother  from  the  command  to  lay  aside  private  judg- 
ment and  live  as  a  tool  for  the  handling  of  the 
Superior. 

If  Charnac^  had  not  been  brought  up  to  become  a 
living  part  of  such  a  system ;  if  he  had  not  been  am- 
bitious of  the  very  highest  place  in  an  organization 
which  could  control  the  interior  as  well  as  the  exte- 
rior lives  of  a  vast  number  of  the  most  eminent  per- 
sons in  the  civilized  and  even  the  barbaric  world ;  if 
he  had  not  been  hopeful  of  ultimately  handling  the 
whatever-of-conscience  the  kings  in  his  day  might 
happen  to  have  about  them  at  any  given  time  ;  if  he 
had  not  believed  himself  ordained  of  God  to  gain  the 
mastery  in  thought  and  action — ruling  the  nations 
somewhat  after  the  order  of  the  secret  powers  celes- 
tial or  infernal  —  ruling  in  secret  —  issuing  mandates 
as  little  known  to  the  world  as  the  thoughts  of  arch- 
angels or  the  powers  of  darkness ;  if  Charnac^  upon 
the  sunny  waters  of  the  Penobscot,  and  when  wan- 
dering through  the  primeval  forest  of  Maine,  had  not 
been  possessed  of  these  great  ambitions,  —  he  would 
never  have  filled  his  small  corner  of  the  globe  with 
spies  to  entrap  the  unwary,  and  to  embroil  New 
France  in  civil  war. 


THE  QUEEN  OF  ACADIA. 


97 


He  had  thoroughly  informed  himself  about  La  Tour 
before  he  saw  him,  so  far  as  he  could  by  the  family 
traits  as  known  to  the  old  world ;  he  had  seen  him  ; 
he  had  drawn  out  from  faithful  Simon  Imbert  every 
point  which  would  enable  him  to  judge  what  his 
enemy  was  thinking  about  every  day,  —  and  now  he 
kept  spies  upon  him,  notably  a  Jesuit  confessor  who 
had  palmed  himself  off  upon  credulous  La  Tour  as 
a  Franciscan.  Fortunately  La  Tour  was  little  given 
to  confession;  and  he  was  merely  reported  as  not 
very  pious,  as  being  only  nominally  a  Catholic,  as 
being  really  as  much  a  Protestant  as  ever  he  had 
been,  —  as  really  recognizing  no  divinity  outside  of 
La  Tour. 

Little  was  there  need,  that  Charnac^  should  set  a 
spy  upon  Constance.  He  knew  too  well  all  that  she 
thought;  or  he  believed  that  he  did.  He  knew 
probably  all  that  he  was  capable  of  knowing.  As  it 
is  impossible  for  the  finite  to  comprehend  the  Infi- 
nite, and  impurity  to  understand  the  heart  of  God,  so 
there  is  something  in  the  soul  of  every  one  made  in 
God's  image,  something  in  the  soul  of  every  one 
within  whom  God  himself  abides,  unknowable  save 
by  kinship  of  spirit.  Charnac^  was  too  little  like 
Constance  to  know  all  that  she  carried  in  her  heart. 
She  would  have  been  an  enigma  to  her  own  husl)and, 
if  his  mind  had  been  perceptibly  cognizant  of  any 
high  spiritual  truths  and  influences ;  as  it  was,  he 
was  not  different  from  a  bat — blind  in  the  sunlight. 
The  depths  of  the  soul  of  Constance,  all  her  secret 

7 


98 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


desires,  all  her  purposes,  all  her  self  conquest,  all  her 
devotion  to  man  and  to  God,  —  were  known  to  no 
finite  mind  unless  to  her  Guardian  Angel. 

She  knew  better  than  her  husband  the  absolute 
necessity  for  keeping  spies  by  day  and  by  night  at 
the  side  of  Charnace ;  and  the  happy  and  honorable 
devices  to  which  she  resorted  would  have  fitted  her 
to  act  as  the  Superior  of  the  Jesuitical  nuns,  had  not 
that  Order  been  suppressed  by  him  who  styled  him- 
self the  vicar  of  God  upon  the  Tiber. 

It  was  only  little  by  little  that  she  finally  arrived 
at  some  knowledge  of  what  Charnac^  really  came  to 
America  for :  that  such  a  man  as  he  came  upon  no 
trivial  errand,  that  such  a  man  as  he  had  objects 
ulterior  to  the  baptism  of  a  few  barbarians,  she  was 
confident. 

It  was  in  the  spring  months,  when  she  had  re- 
turned to  her  Souriquois  children  upon  the  lakes  of 
the  Tusket,  and  had  gathered  them  in  great  numbers 
for  a  few  weeks  of  religious  instruction,  as  well  as 
instruction  in  the  art  of  making  maple  sugar,  —  that 
she  learned  that  Governor  Eazilly  was  dead,  and 
that  his  brother  had  sold  out  all  his  rights  to  Char- 
nac^,  and  that  her  old  lover  now  claimed  in  perpetno 
the  best  harbor  upon  the  Alexander  grant.  La  H^ve, 
and  the  swift  coursing  waters  of  Digby  gut  and  all 
the  old  Biencourt  property,  which  her  husband  had 
given  to  Razilly  for  temporary  use  during  his  own 
life  time  in  exchange  for  his  influence  in  obtaining 
the  St.  John  land  grant  for  La  Tour. 


K  > 


THE  QUEEN  OF  ACADIA. 


99; 


of 
Ders 
as 
hat 
md 
lar- 
ztuo 
l^ve, 
all 
Ihad 
)wn 
ling 


And  it  now  appeared  by  authoritative  proclama- 
tion, to  all  whom  it  might  concern,  that  Charnac^ 
held  a  Lieutenant  General's  commission  from  Louis 
XIIL,  by  which  he  was  to  rule  La  H^ve,  Port  Royal, 
and  that  portion  of  Acadia  west  of  a  north  and  south 
line  across  the  middle  of  the  bay  of  Fundy,  excluding 
the  fifty  square  leagues  given  La  Tour  at  the  mouth 
of  St.  John.  And  this  vast  territory,  including  Pen- 
tagoUet,  and  the  fur  trade  of  the  Penobscot,  was  now 
to  be  held  by  Charnac^  as  a  fief  under  the  King, 
who  was  to  receive  ten  per  cent  of  the  annual  profit 
of  the  fur  trade. 

Here  indeed,  thought  Constance,  was  a  ground  for 
war  in  Acadia.  Louis  XIIL  had  stolen  from  her  hus- 
band what  Henry  IV.  had  given  him  by  way  of  Pou- 
trincourt  and  Biencourt,  and  given  it  to  Charnac^. 
And  Isaac  de  Razilly's  brother  —  Esau  very  likely  — 
had  sold  to  Charnac^  part  of  the  Scotch  grant  owned 
by  the  father-in-law  and  husband  of  Constance. 
And  whatever  was  to  be  said  of  the  coast  of  Acadia 
westward  to  the  Penobscot,  that  river  and  its  trade 
belonged  unquestionably  to  her  husband  by  right  of 
settlement  long  years  past,  as  well  by  the  confir- 
mation royal  as  by  the  defence  of  it  all  by  the  feudal 
lord  La  Tour  who  held  the  fief. 

All  this,  then,  was  brought  to  America,  in  that 
pious  pinnace,  L'Esp^rance  en  Dieu,  with  her  fierce 
dogs  of  war  gi'owling  between  decks.  Was  there 
anything  more  brought  in  this  craft  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  ?    There  might  be. 


100 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


When  Constauce  returned  hot-hearted  to  the  Feu- 
dal Castle,  —  which  her  husband  still  held  under  liis 
strange  king  and  which  he  purposed  to  hold  for  king 
La  Tour,  come  wliat  would,  —  it  was  with  a  queenly 
determination  by  the  help  of  lieaven  to  nuiintain  at 
least  this  spot,  her  home  and  that  of  the  little  child 
God  had  given  her.  She  had  now  breathed  the  free 
Acadian  air  so  long,  that  her  respect  for  the  kings  of 
her  native  country  was  somewhat  diminished,  —  as 
to  their  moral  uprightness,  and  their  right  to  rule 
unless  for  reason ;  and  in  any  event  she  did  not  be- 
lieve that  Richelieu's  puppet  had  any  right  to  dispos- 
sess the  La  Tours,  of  whom  her  child  was  one,  of  what 
had  been  once  given  them  by  all  the  authority  the 
world  was  bound  to  respect  at  the  time  when  it  was 
granted,  —  and  what  was  theirs  by  the  strength  of  the 
frontiersman's  right  arm,  and  the  actual  improvement 
of  the  country.  All  the  Bernon  blood  in  her  veins, 
—  twelve  or  fifteen  centuries  at  least  traceable  back 
to  the  Roman  soldiery  who  conquered  Gaul,  a  stock 
improved  by  the  native  population  of  stalwart  sav- 
agery upon  the  northern  slopes  of  the  Pyrenees  and 
the  hardy  navigators  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  a  stock 
flowering  centuries  since  with  noble  houses,  a  stock 
fit  for  ruling  in  Acadia,  —  all  the  Bernon  blood 
not  yet  cooled  from  the  crusades  against  the  Turks,^ 
not  yet  cooled  from  ancestral  generations  of  armed 
merchantmen,  not  yet  cooled  from  the  heat  of  re- 
ligious devotion,  a  determination  to  serve  God  in 

»  A.  D.  1191. 


A'. 


^  I 


THE  QUEEN  OF  ACADIA, 


101 


their  own  way  despite  the  pope  and  the  king,  —  this 
Bornon  blood  rose  to  the  throne  at  least  in  Acadia. 
I  Upon  that  spot  Constance  would  live.  The  St.  John 
belonged  to  •  her  house ;  she  would  hold  it,  —  or  die 
upon  that  spot. 

The  Queen  of  Acadia  found  her  husband  turning 
codfish  in  the  sun,  upon  the  flakes  near  the  fort. 


102 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


XIII. 


OUANGONDY. 


'T'HERE  being  no  disputing  the  fact  that  Razilly, 
-*■  — or  llasallai,  or  Rasilli,  or  Razilla,  or  Razillais, 
or  Razillai,  or  Kosillon,  or  Rozilla,  or  whatever  his 
name  really  was,  ^  —  Razilly  the  redoubtable  knight 
commander  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  commo- 
dore of  Bretagne,  who  fought  so  gallantly  as  a  naval 
captain  in  the  siege  of  La  Rochelle, — was  now  really 
dead ;  and  there  being  no  dispute  possible  with  one 
so  well  armed  as  Charnacd,  as  to  powder  and  ball, 
and  the  King's  commission,  and  the  agreement  of 
Esau  Razilly  in  behalf  of  the  dead  Isaac, — the  wisest 
thing  for  the  La  Tours  to  do  was,  first,  to  avoid 
present  conflict ;  second,  to  fortify  their  river ;  third, 
to  bring  in  such  soldiers  and  colonists  from  Hugue- 
not lands  as  hated  Romanism,  and  who  would  fight 
for  a  principle;  and,  fourth,  to  make  friends  with 
the  New  Englanders. 

In  pursuance  of  the  plan  to  fortify  and  hold  the 
Ouangondy,  —  by  the  help  at  least  of  the  savages, 

1  The  books  relating  to  the  period  spell  his  name  in  all  this 
variety  of  fashions.  I  have  adopted  the  orthography  of  Charlevoix 
and  M.  Rameau. 


OUANQONDY. 


103 


le 

Ills 


who  cared  more  for  tlieir  own  great  river,  and  the 
name  that  had  been  given  to  it  by  their  fathers,  and 
who  cared  more  for  their  own  warriors  and  medicine 
men,  and  especially  for  Constance,  the  Guardian  Angel 
of  the  children  of  the  Maldchites  of  New  Brunswick  as 
well  as  of  the  Souriquois  in  Nova  Scotia,  than  they 
did  for  Saint  John  or  any  other  of  the  French  saints, 
— it  was  determined  to  build  an  additional  fort  up  the 
river  fifty  miles  at  Jemsek,  where  Salmon  River  and 
the  Grand  Lake  p'^ured  into  the  Ouangondy ;  so  pro- 
tecting the  coal  discoveries  at  the  head  of  the  lake 
and  all  the  fur  trade  of  tlie  river.  This  fort  is  known 
to  the  French  archives  and  to  history  by  the  name 
Jemsek,  or  Jumsack  as  the  log  drivers  call  it  to-day. 
It  should  have  been  named  Fort  Constance,  for  the 
Acadian  Queen ;  since  it  was  her  idea  to  build  it,  and 
in  the  course  of  events  it  so  turned  out  that  she  super- 
intended no  small  part  of  the  work  in  its  erection. 

It  was  on  a  June  day  that  Simon  Imbert,  the 
faithful,  who  had  dismantled  Fort  Louis  and  mounted 
the  guns  at  Fort  La  Tour,  took  formal  possession  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  the  flotilla  of  the  La 
Tours  ascended  the  Ouangondy. 

After  they  had  run  through  the  winding  way 
above  the  Falls  of  St.  John,  from  five  to  six  hundred 
yards  wide  and  two  miles  long,  commonly  called  the 
gullet,  and  had  entered  upon  the  Kenebekawskoi, 
wide  and  far  reaching,  they  saw  the  fir  and  the  larch 
crowding  down  to  the  margin  of  the  marshes ;  then, 
upon  the  fresh  water  intervales  above,  they  saw  great 


\ 


104 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


sweeping  elms,  and,  here  and  there,  a  black  cherry  tall 
as  an  oak  with  a  butt  big  as  a  hogshead.-^  Then,  jour- 
neying onward,  green  walls  of  foliage  arose  sharply 
from  the  banks  on  either  side.  At  every  bend  of  the 
river,  from  the  weedy  margins  or  the  shelter  of  the 
islands,  wild  fowl  started  up,  —  half  swimming,  half 
flying,  then  rising,  —  before  the  passengers  of  the 
Sable;  and  the  crew  of  the  freighting  sloop  Great 
Heart  made  merry  with  long  shots  at  gray  ducks  and 
whistlers.  The  great  northern  diver  was  sometimes 
seen  darting  athwart  the  placid  waters  of  the  lake- 
like expansions  of  the  beautiful  river,  or  splashing 
the  surface  in  alarm  to  escape  the  white-winged 
shallop,  which  advanced  so  swiftly  under  a  favoring 
wind. 

"This  contest  for  the  possession  of  Acadia,"  said 
Henrietta  at  the  evening  camp-fire,  "is  like  one  of 
the  feuds  between  the  great  lords  in  former  ages, 
when  the  fiefs  were  fought  over  inch  by  inch.  We 
only  need  love  and  a  lady  to  make  a  perfect  parallel 
to  half  the  wars  of  the  middle  ages." 

Constance  placed  her  hand  upon  her  heart.  Hen- 
rietta knew  nothing  of  Sieur  Hilaire  Charnace  which 
would  lead  her  to  identify  him  with  Charles  de 
Menou,  whose  name  she  possibly  remembered,  from 
once  mention  by  Constance. 

"  No,"  said  Constance,  "  it  is  very  certain  that  our 
Jesuit  friend  Charnac(5,  claiming  to  be  the  King's 
Lieutenant  Number  2,  has  no  love  and  no  lady  to 

1  La  Honton's  Voyages,  I.  248. 


OUANOONDY. 


105 


contend  for  in  Acadia.  His  method  of  warfare  is, 
however,  far  removed  from  that  of  the  feudal  barons 
whose  stories  amused  our  childhood.  By  concealment 
of  his  ultimate  plans,  he  has  obtained  practical  posses- 
sion of  no  small  part  of  the  country  without  contest. 
It  will  be  hard  for  me  to  believe,  that  the  amiable 
Knight  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  now  deceased,  did 
not  have  something  to  do  with  it.  In  fact,  he  must 
have  been  a  party  to  the  plot  at  the  outset,  although 
he  claimed  to  be  a  knight  ready  to  give  fair  gage 
before  battle." 

The  La  Tours  were  not  well  known  to  Constance. 
There  were  depths  in  themi  and  heights  in  them, 
not  easily  reached  by  common  standards  for  meas- 
uring men.  Charnac^  flattered  himself  that  he  knew 
Charles  la  Tour;  but  he  was  never  more  mistaken 
than  in  the  estimate  he  made.  The  sublimity  of  her 
husband's  content,  Constance  never  understood.  She 
had  faith  in  God.  La  Tour  had  faith  in  La  Tour; 
that,  whatever  turned  up.  La  Tour  was  likely  to  turn 
up  at  the  top. 

'*  Why  Constance,"  said  Charles,  removing  his  pipe, 
"  is  not  Acadia  big  enough  for  us  both  ?  The  St. 
John  alone  has  more  fur  than  I  can  easily  handle. 
If  I  were  to  go  up  to  the  head  waters  now,  and  over 
upon  the  Miramichi,  it  would  be  worth  as  much  to 
me  as  an  Inca's  ransom.  Besides,  I  have  lost  Port 
Eoyal  twice  before,  and  Pentagoiiet  once  before,  and 
found  them  again.  And  I  am  now  likely  to  come 
into  possession  of  them  again,  by  the  time  I  get  rich 


106 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


V.  - 


enough  to  develop  them  properly  out  of  what  trade 
I  have  to-day.  It  is  all  in  the  way  of  business,  — 
profit  and  loss,  loss  to-day  and  profit  to-morrow." 

It  was  apparent  that  La  Tour  had  a  vivid  memory 
of  various  adventures  with  Virginian  scapegraces, 
riymouth  Pilgrims,  and  Scotch  claimants;  and  that 
he  worried  little  over  any  friction  that  might  arise 
between  himself  and  Charnacc!;,  or  any  temporary  loss 
to  which  he  might  be  subjected.  Moreover  the  La 
Tours  were  of  a  long  lived  stock.  He  fully  expected 
to  stand  over  the  grave  of  his  rival ;  and  if  he  were  not 
himself  in  dotage,  he  might  easily  pick  up  whatever 
Charnac6  should  leave  behind  him,  —  as  the  spurious 
titles  to  land  left  by  Eazilly  had  been  already  picked 
up  by  the  King's  Lieutenant  Number  2. 

This  quietus  from  the  lord  of  the  Castle  La  Tour 
upon  St.  John  agreed  well  with  the  digestion  of  his 
old  father,  who  laughed  heartily,  and  then  emptied 
his  pipe  by  rapping  it  gently  upon  one  of  the 
stone  andirons  of  the  camp  fire. 

"  It  is  a  capital  night  to  spear  for  salmon,"  he  said, 
rising  to  full  height,  standing  on  tiptoe,  stretching 
his  arms  upwards,  and  yawning.  He  was  very  tall ; 
and  when  Henrietta  and  Constance  saw  the  baronet's 
shadow  upon  the  great  rock  behind  him,  they  both 
re-echoed  his  laughter,  which  had  become  thoroughly 
Anglicised  since  he  had  become  a  Scotsman.  They 
all  launched  out,  paddling  for  the  salmon. 

The  Great  Heart  had  carried  on  her  deck  the 
Otter  for  Constance,  and  the   Lynx   for  Henrietta, 


h\ 


OUANQONDY. 


107 


PS 

ill; 

jt's 

)th 

iiy 
ley 

he 

Ita, 


canoes  beautified  by  their  owners  with  colored  sinews 
and  porcupine  quills,  in  a  variety  of  pretty  patterns,  as 
if  tlie  boatwomeu  were  not  without  affection  for  birch. 

When  they  were  once  alone,  gliding  over  the  dark 
and  silent  water,  Constance  said,  — 

"  I  am  sure,  Charles,  that  there  is  much  truth  in 
what  you  say  of  the  resources  of  our  noble  river ;  and 
it  has  occurred  to  me  that  during  this  fine  summer 
weather,  I  can  build  the  fort,  while  you  and  your 
father  explore  the  heads  of  the  rivers,  and  make 
arrangements  to  increase  our  trade." 

This  plan  had  already  occurred  to  La  Tour, 
whose  confidence  in  his  wife's  capacity  needed  no 
confirmation. 

"I  cannot  express  to  you,"  continued  Constance, 
—  observing  that  her  husband  was  in  a  receptive, 
though  perhaps  silent  mood,  —  "the  anxiety  I  feel 
relating  to  the  movements  of  Charnac^.  He  is  so 
able,  so  devoted  to  his  purpose,  so  consecrated  to  his 
kind  of  religion,  that  he  will  allow  nothing  to  stand 
before  him  till  he  rules  alone  in  Acadia." 

"  I  shall  myself  have  much  to  say  about  that," 
replied  Charles.  "  Besides,  I  have  perfect  faith,  that 
your  good  angel  will  keep  you ;  and  he  will  have  to 
keep  me  also,  since  you  are  the  guardian  of  the  La 
Tours  as  well  as  of  the  Souriquois." 

"Charnacd  I  should  have  married  before  I  saw 
you,  if  he  had  not  first  married  his  Jesuit  confessor, 
and  gone  into  the  Order,"  said  Constance,  with  a 
frank  heart,  to  her  husband. 


108 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


"  He  was  an  unlucky  dog,  if  that 's  the  case,"  said  ^ 
Charles. 

At  that  instant  the  birch-bark  torch  of  La  Tour 
the  senior  flamed  around  the  bend  of  the  river,  illu- 
minating the  dark  foliage  and  the  massive  cliffs  above 
the  water ;  and  Henrietta  displayed  a  salmon  five  feet 
and  a  half  long  and  a  foot  in  diameter.^ 

Charles  la  Tour  never  made  further  allusion  to 
the  revelation  his  wife  had  made  to  him,  concerning 
her  former  friendship  for  Charnacd.  He  paid  her  the 
highest  compliment  a  man  can  pay  to  a  woman,  — 
he  trusted  her;  and  had  no  anxiety  to  know  her 
thoughts,  save  as  she  cared  to  reveal  them. 

Kindling  their  own  birch  flambeaux,  Charles  and 
Constance  wearied  themselves,  not  with  the  sport  of 
the  hour,  but  with  peering  into  shallows  to  watch  the 
fish  sleeping  so  securely,  or  gazing  upon  the  play 
of  light  and  shadow  among  the  towering  fir  trees,  or 
upon  the  face  of  the  immense  ledges  rising  sheer  out 
of  the  water,  touching  up  the  black  fringes  of  the 
river  with  their  flaring  and  fading  fire. 

1  La  Ronton,  I.  246. 


JEM8EK. 


/'^      109 


XIV. 
JEMSEK. 


"TEMSEK  is  the  water-alley  —  of  slow  current  and 
^  great  depth  —  leading  from  the  Ouangondy,  the 
front  street  of  Fort  Jemsek,  to  Grand  Lake  the  back- 
yard of  the  Fort;  the  alley  on  the  north,  and  the 
great  river  on  the  west. 

The  noble  sheet  of  water  called,  from  time  im- 
memorial, the  Grand  Lake,  is  separated  from  the  St. 
John  by  a  narrow  alluvial  bank ;  the  water  extend- 
ing north  some  thirty  miles,  from  two  to  five  miles 
in  width.  It  is  connected  by  channels  with  French 
Lake,  and  with  Maquapit.  The  water  is  singularly 
clear.  Great  banks  of  gravel  extend  along  the  mar- 
gin of  the  Jemsek  stream  :  granite  boulders  are  seen 
scattered  about  the  bottom  of  the  lake  ;  and  they  are 
found,  here  and  there,  far  and  wide,  in  the  neighbor- 
ing forests  of  pine  and  hard  wood,  which  surround 
the  lake  even  to  the  water's  edge.  These  great 
boulders  in  the  woods  are  often  covered  with  wild 
vines,  or  so  matted  with  fallen  leaves  as  to  support  a 
fine  growth  of  ferns ;  the  rocks  in  some  instances 
lifting  their  altar  like  tops  high  among  the  oaks  and 
the  walnuts.    Numerous  islets  with  bold  shores,  and 


110 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


shaggy  with  tall  trees,  adorn  the  bosom  of  the  lake  ; 
offering  a  breeding  place  far  from  the  foxes,  —  for 
loons,  wood  ducks,  black  coots,  plover,  and  grouse.^ 

Several  small  islands  stand  in  the  edge  of  the  St. 
John  at  the  mouth  of  the  Jemsek  stream. 

The  fertile  soil  and  wild  meadows  in  the  neighbor- 
hood were  put  to  use  promptly  by  La  Tour,  that  they 
might  bear  a  part  of  the  burden  of  their  own  defence. 

A  trading  post  was  opened.  Axes,  kettles,  flints, 
sabres,  sword  blades  for  the  heads  of  darts,  twine  for 
nets,  woollen  socks,  awls,  needles,  beads,  tobacco, 
much  vermilion,  and  little  soap,  —  were  here  ex- 
changed for  the  finest  of  furs.  The  currency  con- 
sisted in  bunching  the  skins,  in  dozens  or  half  dozens, 
—  of  beaver,  rarely  the  white  beaver,^  the  otter,  the 
martin,  of  squirrels,  the  ash-colored  and  the  Suisse,^ 
of  the  raccoon,  of  weasels  and  ferrets,  of  the  wild- 
cat, the  lynx,  the  badger,  the  red  fox,  of  bear  skins 
the  black  and  the  cinnamon,  elk  hides,  I'enfant  du 
diable,*  —  and  the  "  michibichi,  a  sort  of  speckled 
tyger,"  believed  by  the  most  superstitious  of  the  sav- 
ages to  have  been  the  incarnation  of  an  evil  spirit.* 

The  necessity   of  preparing   for  war  in  time   of 

1  Adams'  very  entertaining  Field  and  Forest  Rambles  in  Eastern 
Canada,  London,  1873,  gives  valuable  notes  upon  the  geology  of 
the  Grand  Lake  region. 

2  La  Honton,  I.  233. 

3  So  called  from  the  black  and  white  streaks  along  the  body, 
like  a  Swiss  doublet ;  and  the  black  and  white  rings  on  the  thighs, 
like  a  Swiss  cap. 

*  Mephitis  Americana.  '  La  Honton,  L  232. 


JEM8EK. 


Ill 


peace,  led  La  Tour  to  visit  the  heads  of  the  great 
rivers  of  Acadia,  to  gather  in  furs,  —  the  profit  being 
enormous,  both  upon  the  goods  sold  to  the  savages, 
and  then  again  upon  the  furs  received  in  trade. 

Well  might  the  aborigines  be  proud  of  the  Ouan- 
gondy,  and  well  might  an  apostle  be  glad  to  have 
his  name  attached  to  such  a  river,  with  its  long 
reaches  of  navigable  water.  General  La  Tour's  boy- 
life  in  the  defiles  of  the  Alps,  and  the  privations  of 
his  early  Acadian  manhood,  made  him  indifferent  to 
the  difficulties  of  a  new  country,  whether  of  dan- 
gerous logs  and  the  storms  of  Fundy  in  winter,  or  the 
inconveniences  of  Pokiok  carry,  or  adventures  upon 
the  sides  of  the  gorge  below  the  Grand  Falls.  Upon 
the  sides  of  this  gorge,  to  please  his  Indian  boatmen, 
he  erected,  at  a  point  difficult  and  dangerous  of 
access,  a  monument  of  rough  stones  to  commemorate 
that  unknown  Indian  maiden  of  the  Malechites,  who 
led  her  captors  the  Mohawks  over  the  Great  Falls  in 
the  night,  when  they  were  moving  to  attack  her  people. 

There  is  no  ground  for  comparing  Constance  with 
her  contemporary,  the  Marchioness  de  Eambouillet, 
whose  architectural  taste  and  ability  revolutionized 
the  arrangement  of  houses,  and  gave  to  the  Parisian 
world  models  for  the  royal  improvement  of  palaces, 
—  but  this  woman  of  the  wilderness  knew  how  to 
build  a  fort,  having  schooled  herself  to  some  purpose 
in  her  life  at  La  Eochelle.^ 

^  The  Acadiau  forts  had  little  to  distinguish  one  from  another, 
unless  in  the  quality  of  the  work.    When  completed,  —  the  dwell- 


112 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


While  Constance  occupied  herself  in  overseeing 
the  workmen,  Henrietta  made  wide  acquaintance 
with  the  Indian  families,  who  came  to  the  Grand 
Lake  in  vast  numbers  in  the  summer  season  to  fish 
and  to  hunt,  the  game  being  very  plenty  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  cooling  waters.^ 

Pitchibat,  so  swift  of  foot,  and  so  strong  of  arm,  was 
Henrietta's  guide  and  guard  and  boatman;  as  the 
muscular  Tarratine  Takouchin,  the  trusty  messenger, 
was  attached  to  the  service  of  Constance, —  never 
far  from  her  in  all  wild  wanderings. 

Henrietta  not  only  diverted  herself  by  idling 
along  the  shores  of  the  lake  in  search  for  jaspers 
and  carnelians,  and  fossil  ferns  near  the  coal  beds, 
or  pushing  out  in  her  light  canoe  to  gather  lilies, 
making  garlands  to  dress  out  her  friend  the  su- 
perintendent of  construction  at  the  fort,  and  to 
adorn  all  the  Indian  children  whose  fathers  and 
mothers  were  engaged  in  service  at  the  works, — 
but  her  solitary  sail  was  often  seen  coursing  over 
the  lake  as  she  sought  out  the  mouth  of  Salmon 
River,  or  new  hunting  grounds,  in  bearing  her  part 
to  keep  the  workmen  in  flesh,  fowl,  and  fish.     The 


i 


ing  house  at  Jemsek  was  of  hewn  stone,  30  x  45  ;  and  the  two  story 
magazine  of  stone,  30  x  108  ;  the  court  of  the  guard,  30  x  45  ;  the 
chapel,  12x18,  — with  a  turret,  and  a  bell  of  18  lbs.  ;  under  the 
magazine,  was  a  cellar  with  a  well  in  it ;  the  twelve  guns  were  each 
of  nearly  a  ton  weight ;  outside  was  a  large  cattle  house,  and  a 
garden  with  fruit  trees. 

*  Gmnd  Lake  is  famous,  even  to-day,  for  the  gatheiing  of  Indian 
utensils,  and  relics  of  far  ofiF  generations. 


JEMSEK. 


113 


shad,  the  gaspereaux,  the  savory  trout  came  to  her 
net  or  hook. 

If  Jean  Pitchibat  and  the  hounds  drove  a  fat  buck 
into  the  water  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Lynx, 
Henrietta  dropped  her  lines,  and  stunned  the  deer 
with  her  paddle  ;  and  she  shrank  not  from  using  her 
hunting  knife.  To  contend  with  the  bears  for  berries, 
to  secure  now  and  then  a  toothsome  cub,  suited  well 
her  mettle ;  but  if  nothing  better  offered,  she  would 
condescend  to  conceal  herself  in  the  small  birches, 
steal  along  under  the  aspens,  or  push  the  alders  one 
side,  to  get  a  shot  at  a  partridge,  or  to  bring  down  a 
bevy  of  wood  pigeons. 

Constance  never  killed  a  wild  creature  for  need  or 
sport,  —  it  was  not  in  her  heart  to  do  it.  It  was  her 
diversion  to  go  away  alone,  watching,  perhaps,  the 
humming  bird  with  changeable  colors,  blue  and  gold 
and  red,  glistening  in  the  sun,  and  moving  with  nee- 
dle beak  from  flower  to  flower  with  the  bees,  —  or 
she  gazed  long  upon  the  great  eagles  wheeling  in 
their  flight ;  she  took  her  little  child  where  the  silence 
was  broken  only  by  the  tap  of  the  woodpecker  or  the 
whirr  of  the  partridge,  — •  or  where  they  could  look 
into  deep  clear  waters  watching  the  fish  in  their  un- 
derworld, —  or  where  they  could  see  the  young  of 
the  innumerable  wild  fowl,  seeking  food  or  at  play, 
when  surrounded  by  the  stillness  of  the  forest,  —  or 
they  saw  the  brown  sides  of  doe  and  fawn  timidly 
gliding  along  some  wood  path  towards  the  water. 
And  when  the  season  came  for  crimson  and  orange 

8 


114 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


in  the  tops  of  the  maples,  she  adorned  her  birch 
in  gay  colo^,  and  floated  as  if  upon  an  autumnal 
leaf  over  the  smooth  bosom  of  the  lake,  listening 
to  the  impressive  stillness  of  the  wilderness.  The 
Indian  children  said,  that,  so,  she  hoped  sometime  to 
hear  the  voice  of  her  God,  —  or  that  her  Ministering 
Angel  would  speak  to  her.  She  herself  believed, 
that  the  Voice  within  her  soul  could  best  be  heard 
when  she  was  alone  amid  the  wilds. 

The  shining  waters  and  sunny  wildernesses  were, 
however,  not  a  little  disturbed  by  the  news  Joe  Ta- 
kouchin  brought  up  from  Fort  La  Tour  in  the  Euro- 
ropean  mail,  which  had  just  arrived  in  the  yearly 
packet,  the  Cceur  de  Lion. 

It  now  appeared,  that  Eichelieu,  —  the  conqueror 
of  La  Rochelle,  the  master  mind  of  France  if  not  of 
Europe,  he  who  made  a  toy  of  kings,  —  was  at  the 
bottom  of  the  movements  of  M.  Razilly  and  of  Char- 
nac^ ;  they  were  his  chess  men,  playing  his  game  in 
New  France.  Constance  had  not  merely  to  cope 
with  an  old  time  lover  in  his  shifting  masks  of  Jesuit 
missionary  and  of  Second  Lord  Lieutenant,  but  must 
now  contend  with  Richelieu,  or  lose  Acadia.^ 

It  now  appeared,  that  Razilly,  who  was  related  to 
Richelieu,  and  Charnace,  whose  uncle,  the  Baron 
Hercule  the  great  diplomat,  married  a  blood  connec- 
tion of  Richelieu,  were  of  the  Hundred  Associates : 

1  The  reference  to  Richelieu's  Jesuitical  plans  in  Prince's  An- 
nals, Part  II.  Sec.  2,  page  Si,  indicates  the  alarm  of  the  Protestants, 
although  their  information  was  not  perfect. 


JEM8EK. 


116 


otherwise  the  Company  of  New  France,  at  whose 
head  stood  the  Master  of  the  French  world;  with 
large  capital  paid  in ;  with  a  grant  from  the  Cardi- 
nal's tool,  the  king,  of  all  New  France  forever,  and 
a  perpetuity  of  the  monopoly  in  furs,  freedom  from 
duty  upon  all  exports,  and  twelve  patents  of  nobility 
as  premiums ;  with  an  obligation  to  colonize  the 
new  world  with  papists,  at  the  least  four  thousand 
of  them  at  some  early  date.  The  Company  was  to 
be  supplied  with  three  ecclesiastics  to  every  set- 
tlement ;  no  Protestants  were  to  be  allowed  fur- 
ther foothold,  so  putting  a  complete  stop  to  Huguenot 
emigration. 

Here,  indeed,  was  ground  for  war  in  Acadia.  And 
the  blood  of  Bernon  took  up  the  gage.  Who  could 
tell  to  whom  the  Lord  of  battles  would  finally  give 
this  land  ?  Kicbelieu  might  have  other  matters  in 
Europe,  to  keep  his  hands  too  full  to  admit  of  his 
grasping  America.  His  scheme  might  fail.  He  had 
humbled  La  Eochelle ;  but  might  not  the  prostrate  city 
be  avenged  in  New  France  ?  If  the  Marchioness  de 
Guercheville  had  not  been  able  to  bear  the  draft  upon 
her  purse,  might  not  the  new  capitalists  so  sanguine 
at  the  outset,  soon  fall  back  ?  The  courtiers  might 
risk  one  pocket  full  of  pin  money,  but  they  would 
not  continue  to  put  out  money  for  other  people  to 
spend  in  far  off  ventures. 

Some  such  thoughts  as  these  rushed  through  the 
mind  of  practical  Constance,  as  she  ran  over  her 
mail.     But  Henrietta  was  boiling  over,  with  ill  sup- 


116 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


pressed  rage.  She  hnted  tlie  Romanist  religion  not 
only  with  the  fierceness  of  an  English  Protestant,  but 
with  the  bitter  memory  of  old  French  refugee  wrongs 
tliat  had  come  down  out  of  a  former  generation. 
Moreover,  her  service  in  the  h<  i  Fabold  of  King 
Charles,  when  ho  espoused  tlio  oauciO  of  the  French 
Protestants  at  La  Pochelle  an"!  was  defeated  by 
Richelieu,  led  her  to  rtnortain  the  most  violent 
prejudices  against  the  (Jaidinal,  and  all  his  kin  upon 
both  sides  of  the  sea.  At  the  same  time,  she  had  so 
much  of  the  British  admiration  of  pluck  and  hard 
fighting,  that  she  could  not  but  stand  in  awe  before 
the  genius  of  that  clergyman,  who,  when  he  once 
undertook  to  fight,  restored  the  day  of  miracles,  con- 
verting some  portion  of  the  sea  into  land  to  support 
his  artillery,  and  lifting  up  the  land  itself  beliind  La 
Rochelle  into  great  embankments,  to  starve  the  gar- 
rison of  the  impregnable  city  into  submission. 

Henrietta  had  absolutely  no  hope  for  Acadia,  if 
Richelieu  had  condescended  to  say  that  he  would 
take  possession  of  it. 

"  This  whole  business,"  she  said  to  Constance  when 
they  har!  ,)p(iued  their  dispatches,  and  read  and  re- 
read  th"  (Ji ' 'ic  lett  -     from  loved  ones   beyond 

the  oceuii,  reminds  me  of  what  I  saw  this  forenoon 
in  my  hunting.  I  sighted  a  deer  in  the  meadow, 
and  was  about  to  fire,  when  I  observed  two  wolves 
skulking  in  the  edge  of  the  forest  preparing  to  make 
an  attack.  I  watched  them,  as  one  cirded  around 
the  buck  at  a  distance,  then  lay  down  behind  him. 


t, 


.-s  - 


JEMSRK. 


117  r 


The  other  wolf  then  made  an  open  attack ;  and  when 
the  buck  turned  and  fled,  the  first  wolf  tlien  rose  out 
of  the  grass,  and  seized  liim.  .».  Kuzillv,  and  Char- 
nan^,  merely  fiighteu  us,  in  order  i  at  Kichelieu  may 
take  us  by  the  throat.  Between  tht  »,  Acadia  mwst, 
fall." 

Constance  making  no  reply,  \  t  still  gazin^^  in- 
tently at  the  burning  cities  ailing  nto  ;  shes,  m  the 
remains  of  their  camp  fire,  Henrietta  res*  ned  in  her 
dogmatic  fashion:  "The  Man  of  S  loes  not  feel 
disposed  to  cue.  Such  moderate  m- 
lanchthon,  an*.'  song-singing,  jovial  T  u 
over  theology,  lud  Jolm  Calvin  sittin;. 
keep  Geneva  fr*  m  danciUg  a  jig  when  r 
—  could  never  damage  the  power  '  • 
church  much,  in  its  triumpliant  progress 
centuries.  That  stupid  Spanish  Cavalie'  Loyola, — 
who  could  not  rea  I  at  an  age  when  Calvin  had  lec- 
tured on  civil  lav.'  to  crowds  of  admirers  id  had 
formulated  those  ii.  stitutes  of  religion  whicli  are  the 
bulwark  of  Protestantism,  —  was  to  the  very  end,  as 
at  the  beginning,  a  soldier;  and  between  him  and 
the  soldier  Richelieu  who  threw  away  his  sword  to 
take  a  bishopric,  the}  have  given  a  new  lease  of  life 
to  the  world's  old  friend,  the  Man  of  Sin,  whom 
we  all  thought  dead ;  and  he  will  go  on  living  for- 
ever." 

At  the  termination  of  this  harangue,  Constance 
rolled  upon  the  ground  in  an  uncontrollable  fit  of 
laughter,  —  more  violent  for  the  excitement  she  had 


as  meek  Me- 

r  quarrelling 

up  nights  to 

was  asleep, 

the  papal 

iirough  the 


118 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


undergone  in  learning  the  true  causes  of  the  Acadian 
tangle. 

"Henrietta,"  she  said  when  she  revived,  "I  am 
astonished.  The  preaching  of  the  English  divines 
was  not  lost  upon  you.  I,  being  born  a  French 
woman,  cannot  attempt  to  converse  in  a  style,  savor- 
ing of  the  Puritan  conventicles.  What  you  say  is  as 
good  as  a  sermon.  Let  me  ring  the  bell  and  call  in 
the  savages." 


THE  CARDINAL. 


119 


XV. 


THE  CARDINAL. 


"VTEXT  morning  Constance  did  not  fail  to  enlighten 
-^^  her  amiable  and  entertaining  mother-in-law 
young  Henrietta,  at  breakfast,  upon  the  mysteries  of 
French  politics,  in  a  style  which  was  complimented, 
as  being  an  admirable  model  to  Milton  for  a  political 
tract,  —  being  more  temperate  than  he  commonly 
used  and  more  judicial,  but  not  lacking  in  fire  or 
poetic  phrase  and  imagery.  Having  undertaken  to 
perfect  Constance  in  the  use  of  the  English  tongue 
Henrietta  took  pride  in  her  progress.  Packets  from 
the  old  world  brought  to  the  wilderness  not  only 
powder  and  ball  to  defend  the  settlers  of  Acadia, 
and  rare  goods  out  of  the  old  world,  and  the  means 
for  trafficking,  but  the  writings  of  John  Milton,  who 
was  just  at  that  time  pounding  against  the  gates  of 
Prelacy. 

As  the  morning  wore  on,  Henrietta,  who  could  not 
be  easy  until  she  had  read  all  the  theology,  which 
had  come  with  the  bad  news  in  the  Coeur  de  Lion, 
took  Chilliugworth's  Religion  of  the  Protestants  out 
for  an  airing  after  being  boxed  up  so  long  at  sea; 
and  seated  herself  under  a  little  cluster  of  autumnal 


120 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


beeches  liglited  by  the  sun.  Constance,  going  out 
not  long  after  with  the  second  part  of  Don  Quixote, 
noticing  the  warm  glow  of  the  clump  of  low  shrub- 
bery and  fruit  bearing  trees  where  Henrietta  was 
seated,  drew  near,  much  as  she  v/ould  to  a  cheery 
camp  fire  kindled  by  a  torch  from  the  skies  in  the 
early  noontide.  The  temptation  being  great  to  air 
her  English  in  the  presence  of  so  kindly  and  appre- 
ciative a  critic,  she  reverted  to  the  topic  of  the  morn- 
ing, saying  to  her  companioTs,  — 

"I  think  that  your  Eng'i  I  people  make  a  great 
mistake  in  regard  to  Eicbelieu.  You  speak  of  him 
as  an  ecclesiastic.  Eeally  he  is  so,  not  more  than 
was  William  of  Orange,  not  so  much  so  as  Philip  II. 
of  Spain.  He  is  a  statesman.  His  robe  is  an  acci- 
dent. Rather  he  uses  it  to  cloak  his  designs.  The 
Vicar  of  God  is  to  him  less  than  the  King  of  France. 
It  pleases  him  in  his  red  garment  and  skull  cap,  with 
a  golden  cross  gleaming  upon  his  breast,  to  have  a 
sickly  and  feeble  king  with  just  sense  enough  to  do 
what  he  is  told,  whom  he  can  take  up  between  his 
thumb  and  finger,  and  set  at  the  head  of  Europe." 

"You  forget  Charles  I.,  and  particularly  our  poor 
Scotch  Jeems,  who  was  the  legitimate  father  of  our 
Nova  Scotia,"  interrupted  Henrietta. 

"  Pardon  my  seeming  disrespect  to  the  Scotch.  I 
meant  to  have  excepted  Sir  William  Alexander.  Those 
who  tliink  well  of  Nova  Scotia  of  course  rank  higher 
in  my  estimation  than  Louis  or  even  Eichelieu." 

"Eichelieu  certainly  deserved  well  of  the  world," 


THE  CARDINAL. 


121 


replied  the  Scotch  baronet's  wife,  "  when  he  cut  the 
apron  strings  that  tied  Louis  to  his  mother,  and  drove 
away  from  court  Mary  de  Medici.  And  even  if  lie 
did  put  a  bib  and  tucker  on  Louis,  and  give  him  a 
few  play-things,  he  is  not  much  to  be  blamed  for  that, 
considering  how  much  of  a  man  he  has  made  out  his 
king  in  the  eyes  of  Europe." 

"  Eichelieu,"  said  Constance,  "  has  done  for  France 
what  the  wars  of  the  roses  did  for  England,  —  killed 
out  the  feudal  system,  and  given  life  to  the  king.  If 
I  could  allow  myself  to  think  calmly  of  my  native 
city,  —  and  tliis  I  cannot  do,"  she  added  in  a  plaintive 
tone,  with  tear  drops  filling  her  eyes, — "I  should  say 
that  Eichelieu,  who  knows  no  more  of  human  pity 
and  has  no  more  respect  for  human  life  than  the 
axe  of  an  executioner,  was  after  all  right  in  what  he 
did." 

"What  do  you  mean  ?"  asked  Henrietta,  in  a  quick 
excited  tone.  "  You  do  not  mean  to  uphold  him  in 
his  persecution  of  the  Protestants  ? " 

"  He  did  not  persecute  the  Protestants,  if  you  will 
pardon  me,"  replied  Constance.  "He  could  not, 
upon  his  theory  of  destroying  feudalism  and  creating 
an  absolute  monarchy,  do  otherwise  than  he  did. 
Henry  IV.  made  one  mistake  in  the  edict  of  Nantes, 
—  he  left  my  Huguenot  people  as  a  political  party, 
who  should  be  heard  as  a  party,  in  governing  France. 
It  would  have  been  better,  if  he  had  merely  given  ab- 
solute religious  toleration,  and  protected  it.  It  would 
have  allayed  prejudice,  and  have  helped  spread  the 


*"*  '  ^    '     •    ^\ 


i  j 


MM 


i  ; 


122 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Protestant  faith.  The  result  of  the  course  he  took  was 
to  make  the  Protestant  political  leaders  ambitious  of 
controlling  the  nation.  And  after  the  King  was  mur- 
dered, my  native  city"  —  and  here  her  voice  trembled, 
and  she  almost  broke  down  again  —  "proposed  the 
establishment  of  a  Protestant  republic.  The  Due  de 
Rohan  was  opposed  to  it  at  first ;  but  afterwards  he 
favored  it,  and  headed  the  movement.  You  know,  by 
your  father's  house,  what  evils  had  been  wrought  by 
the  long  religious  wars.  There  was  no  France ;  it  was 
Gaul  again,  —  barbaric  tribes  contending,  some  reli- 
gious, some  not.  At  this  juncture  Eichelieu  appeared ; 
he  happened  to  have  been  a  soldier,  a  bishop,  and  a 
cardinal,  —  but  he  was  really  at  heart  one  of  the  very 
few  born  kings,  as  much  so  as  Csesar,  or  Charlemagne, 
or  your  Alfred,  or  William  the  Norman.  But  he  is  a 
king  not  for  himself,  he  is  true  to  his  priestly  vows  ; 
he  glorifies  the  Church  by  setting  up  one  and  pulling 
down  another.  Hildebrand  is  the  only  Pope  worthy 
of  being  named  upon  the  same  day  with  Eichelieu." 

"  But  did  he  not  destroy  your  churches  ? "  asked 
Henrietta. 

"  I  cannot,  my  dear,  speak  of  what  he  did,"  replied 
Constance  in  a  subdued  voice.  "  He  contended  against 
us  for  political,  not  for  religious  reasons.  The  throne 
was  to  be  established.  It  is  not  time  yet  for  a  republic 
in  France.  The  department  of  Aunis  was  fit  for  it, 
perhaps  Languedoc ;  but  France  would  have  been 
dismembered  in  this  way.  And  France  as  a  whole 
is  not  intelligent  enough,  or  religious  enough  to  be  a 


TEE  CARDINAL. 


123 


republic.  Richelieu  has  now  consolidated  a  nation  out 
of  a  few  feudalities;  he  has  ruined  the  aristocracy,  and 
reduced  the  parliaments  to  insignificance.  Now  we 
shall  see  France  at  the  head  of  Continental  Europe." 

"I  admit,"  answered  Henrietta,  "that  a  kingdom 
absolute,  is  better  than  anarchy.  And,  if  freedom  of 
thinking  and  religious  liberty  were  possible  under  an 
absolute  government,  there  might  be  hope  sometime 
for  such  religious  and  civil  growth  that  the  govern- 
ment itself  might  safely  be  controlled  more  or  less  by 
the  people.  Our  English  nation,  I  confess,  is  almost 
tired  of  such  kings  as  we  have.  If  I  should  breathe 
the  free  air  of  Acadia  long  enough,  I  should  become 
a  republican,  or  have  a  king  that  would  rule  just  as 
I  might  fancy." 

"  In  respect  to  France,"  said  Constance,  "  we  never 
had  even  the  beginnings  of  liberty  which  your  Saxons 
fished  up  out  of  the  foggy  seas  of  the  north ;  we  have 
for  ages  been  under  the  thumb  of  the  Pope,  or  of 
some  king,  or  some  feudal  lord  true  to  the  imperial 
traditions  of  Eome.  The  liberty  of  the  strongest  is 
all  the  liberty  we  have  in  France.  And  just  now 
Richelieu  is  the  strongest." 

And  so  they  talked,  these  Acadian  women,  viewing 
the  great  events  of  far  off  nations  through  the  clear 
sky  of  the  new  world,  —  talked  until  the  fires  in 
the  autumnal  woods  grew  dim  with  coming  twilight. 
The  effect  of  this  new  move  to  plant  papal  power  in 
America,  by  the  Hundred  Associates  of  Morbihan, 
was  discussed  in  every  light 


'    ii 


124 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


"  Is  it  not  a  fundamental  error,"  asked  Constance, 
"one  likely  to  be  fatal  to  their  whole  scheme,  to 
attempt  to  plant  colonies  in  New  France  upon  the 
feudal  system,  which  Richelieu  is  now  trying  to 
uproot  in  Old  France  ?  They  have  not  made  it  an 
object  to  the  common  people  to  emigrate.  Nobody 
is  to  be  benefited  except  the  Hundred  Associates." 

"I  should  have  tliought,"  said  Henrietta,  "that 
they  might  at  least  have  made  a  hundred  and  fifty 
noblemen  as  our  King  did,  instead  of  twelve.  That 
might  have  induced  somebody  to  emigrate.  I  doubt 
if  we  see  any  able  Frenchmen  coming  to  Acadia  in 
addition  to  M.  Razilly,  and  —  shall  I  call  him  Lieu- 
tenant General  ?  —  Charnace.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  will  be  a  good  many  Scotch  and  English  people 
in  want  of  nobility  patents,  and  land  grants,  who  will 
come  over."  ^ 

"What  is  needed,"  answered  Constance,  "is  the 
plan  adopted  by  the  New  Englanders, — to  give  every 
settler  a  fair  footing.  The  Hundred  can  never  hire 
colonists ;  and  they  do  not  want  bona  fide  settlers. 
The  fur  business  would  be  destroyed  by  the  general 
settlement  of  the  country.  Charnac^  would  rather 
have  paying  beavers  than  pauper  colonists.  A  few 
farmers  to  raise  food  for  the  trappers,  is  all  that  the 
Hundred  will  send  over.  There  are  few  in  France 
who  can  even  be  hired  to  migrate.     The  Huguenots 

1  Claude  la  Tour's  liaronetcy  was  of  a  new  order  of  Nova 
Scotia  nobility  ;  one  hundred  and  fifty  being  created  for  the  sake  of 
settling  the  country  with  those  ambitious  of  titles. 


THE  CARDINAL. 


125 


are  really  the  only  ones  who  wish  to  pack  up  and  move 
to  Acadia.  The  Catholics  do  not  want  to  come ;  and 
they  will  not,  except  as  hired  help,  or  as  priests." 

"  But  Richelieu  has  put  a  stop  to  Protestant  emi- 
gration," interposed  Henrietta. 

"He  cannot  do  that,"  was  the  reply.  "The  Hugue- 
not merchants,  in  their  armed  ships  will  glide  in  and 
out  everywhere.  They  are  as  persistent  as  if  they 
were  smugglers  and  pirates.  They  make  money  by 
their  wits.  The  Protestant  population  of  Biscay  will 
not  ask  the  Hundred  where  they  may  go  or  not  go." 

At  this  point,  Henrietta  could  no  longer  refrain 
from  yawning,  —  wliich  she  did  with  an  apology. 
The  defenders  of  Acadia,  then,  roasted  their  green 
corn  at  the  evening  camp  fire ;  toasted  their  feet ; 
and  told  surprising  stories  of  old-time  hunters  and 
warriors  of  former  ages,  and  of  those  devout  men  who 
had  been  engaged  in  holy  missions  among  the  barbaric 
tribes  of  Europe. 


K 


126 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


XVI. 


THE  ACADIAN  WILD. 


I 


TEMSEK  was  a  more  comfortable  place  to  winter 
^  in  than  Fort  La  Tour,  more  sunny,  and  less  ex- 
posed to  the  eccentricities  of  the  Atlantic.  In  com- 
pleting the  works,  General  La  Tour  was  there  most 
of  the  cold  season,  passing  often  up  and  down  the  ice 
clad  river,  according  to  the  exigencies  of  his  building 
and  his  traffic.  Constance,  when  at  liberty  to  do  so, 
busied  herself  tliroughout  the  winter  in  ministering 
to  the  Malechites,  in  which  the  wife  of  the  Senior 
La  Tour  gave  occasional  aid. 

Besides  families  not  a  few,  who  had  regular  huts 
and  formed  little  villages  upon  the  lake  shore,  or 
near  the  junction  of  considerable  streams,  there  were 
great  numbers,  who  wintered  near  the  lake  with  its 
stores  of  fish ;  it  being  a  region  somewhat  famous  for 
the  number  of  moose  yards  within  reach  by  one  or 
two  days  journey  upon  snow  shoes. 

Those  camping  or  unsettled  Indians,  —  who  spent 
a  winter  here  then  there,  who  moved  with  moving 
game,  who  had  different  resorts  for  seasons  dry  or 
wet,  whose  movements  were  directed  by  feuds  or  by 
war,  —  lived  in  temporary  lodges  rather  than  in  huts 


THE  ACADIAN  WILD. 


127 


and  stockaded  villages.  A  lodge  could  be  set  up  in 
a  new  place  within  half  an  hour ;  a  few  poles  were 
placed  upright,  and  tied  together  at  the  top,  then 
covered  with  mats  or  more  commonly  with  bark ;  a 
parapet  of  snow  was  then  gathered  upon  the  outside 
for  a  windbreak ;  and  pine  branches  or  tips  of  fir 
served  as  a  mattress,  over  which  skins  were  then 
thrown  for  bedding,  —  and  this  completed  the  house 
or  home.  The  smoke  which  gathered  in  the  top  of 
the  lodge,  little  by  little  found  its  way  out  of  the 
interstices  of  the  bark  covering,  after  having  first 
imparted  all  the  heat  possible  to  the  smothering 
inmates. 

In  severe  weather  the  falling  snow  was  so  thick  as 
to  darken  the  day ;  or  the  clear  north  wind  so  full  of 
force  as  to  split  the  forest  trees,  and  so  full  of  frost 
as  to  peel  the  skin  off  a  white  face.  Upon  such  days, 
it  was,  within  the  lodge,  only  possible  for  the  inmates 
to  freeze  one  side  and  roast  the  other ;  impossible  to 
see  through  the  smoke  more  than  half  a  yard ;  pos- 
sible only  in  such  smoke  to  weep  their  eyes  away, 
else  perish  with  cold  by  opening  the  roof.  Some- 
times they  could  breathe  only  by  placing  their  nos- 
trils near  the  ground.  Such  rough  weather,  however, 
offered  her  best  days  to  Constance,  since  she  was  sure 
of  finding  the  entire  family  or  families  in  a  lodge  at 
home,  with  nothing  to  do  but  to  keep  the  smoke  alive, 
and  to  hear  anything  she  might  have  to  suggest.  To 
conduct  devotional  exercises  under  the  circumstances 
might  have  been  difidcult;  still  it  was  possible, — 


128 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Constance  remembering  that  the  dwellers  in  the 
lodge  had  always  been  used  to  such  atmosphere,  that 
they  at  least  were  at  home,  the  only  home  they  had 
ever  known. 

The  Indians  bathed  daily  in  summer,  but  never 
in  winter ;  they  rubbed  their  bodies  occasionally  in 
bear's  oil,  but  never  changed  their  clothing.  Heat- 
ing, and  steaming  in  the  smoking  lodge,  they  were 
still  at  home.  Tl-ere  was  nothing  in  the  atmos- 
phere to  which  i\ii:y  had  not  been  accustomed  all 
their  lives. 

These  Indians  kept  vast  numbers  of  fierce  hunting 
dogs,  which  were  fed  little  save  in  the  chase ;  starv- 
ing in  winter,  they  crawled  into  the  lodges,  snatching 
food  fro'u  any  hand  they  could  catch  unguarded ;  hav- 
ing shivered  outside,  they  approached  as  near  as  they 
could  to  the  inside  smoke.  A  coverlet  of  two  or 
three  dogs  lying  upon  one's  person,  was  likely  to  be 
found  by  any  one  sleeping  in  these  kennels.^ 

It  was  with  such  surroundings,  that  Constance  of 
Acadia, — whose  father  and  grandfather  by  their  money 
helped  Henry  of  the  White  Plume  to  the  throne  of 
France,  whose  family  records  had  given  prelates  to 
the  church  during  more  than  seven  hundred  years, 
whose  ancestors  during  all  that  time  had  been  in  high 
positions  of  trust  military  and  municipal  conveying 
a  title  of  nobility,  who  was  a  descendant  of  the 
counts  of  Burgundy ,2  —  patiently  devoted  herself  to 

1  Charlevoix  Journals,  pp.  129-131. 
a  A.  D.  895. 


THE  ACADIAN   WILD. 


129 


the  religious  instruction  of  warriors  and  squaws 
and  their  children,  day  after  day  during  those  very 
winter  months  in  which  llichelieu  travelled  like  a 
king,  with  a  long  retinue  of  horsemen,  of  coaches, 
of  wagons,  with  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  or 
gave  elaborate  and  costly  entertainments  to  richly 
dressed  courtiers,  —  liichelieu,  who,  when  of  the 
same  age  with  Constance,  wrote  to  Madame  de 
Bourges,  that,  as  the  poor  bishop  of  Lu(;on,  he  had 
no  garden  or  avenue  where  he  could  walk,  that  he 
had  the  muddiest  bishopric  in  France,  and  that  he 
could  find  no  lodging  without  a  smoky  chimney. 

As  a  practical  lesson  to  her  wild  neighbors,  Con- 
stance lived  among  them,  in  a  lodge ;  so  arranging  it 
by  what  wit  she  had,  as  to  show  them  how  to  be 
more  comfortable  as  well  as  more  cleanly.  Without 
other  conveniences  than  every  Indian  household  could 
easily  obtain,  she  had  prepared  in  the  deep  snow  a 
pit,  sinking  to  the  leafy  covering  of  the  ground,  and 
here  prepared  her  bed  of  fir-tip  feathers  laid  thatch- 
wise  ;  and  in  that  region  which,  of  all  places  in  Aca- 
dia, offered  stone  in  abundance  and  Umerock,  she  had 
a  rough  chimney ;  and  she  could  be  seen  any  day 
frizzling  her  meat  upon  sharpened  forks  of  oak,  sur- 
rounded by  the  children  of  the  nearest  lodges.  Henri- 
etta now  and  then  kept  her  company ;  and  Takouchin 
and  his  family  wintered  in  a  lodge  close  at  hand. 

In  this  Sunday  lodge,  as  it  was  called,  she  had 
little  companies  all  day  long  once  a  week ;  when  she 
learned  by  some  system  what  had  been  accomplished 


130 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


f  t 


by  the  habits  of  iiulustiy  slie  Imd  inculcated,  and  in 
aid  of  which  she  had  su|^f^fested  practicable  methods, — 
the  work  upon  the  fortitications  employing  any  who 
could  really  make  tliemselves  useful,  and  the  making 
of  pipe  staves  for  sliipment  employing  any  who  cared 
to  undertake  it.  The  Indians  were  found  to  be  good 
imitators,  and  they  easily  learned  to  make  many  ar- 
ticles of  domestic  convenience.  Providence  for  the 
future  was  a  matter  of  inquiry.  Information  was 
given  as  to  sickness  ;  which  tended  to  break  up  the 
superstitious  courses  often  followed  upon  such  occa- 
sion. The  laws  of  kindness,  of  gratitude,  of  courtesy, 
of  cleanliness,  of  purity,  of  uprightness,  were  made 
clear  by  simple  illustrations,  and  enforced  by  appeal- 
ing to  conscience,  and  the  authority  of  God.  Practi- 
cal precepts  were  committed  to  their  faithful  memories. 
They  were  taught  to  be  alone  with  God,  seeking  help 
from  heaven.  And  before  the  winter  was  over,  Con- 
stance saw  many,  who  could  endure  torture  without 
a  tear,  weep  when  worsted  in  an  attempt  at  self 
conquest. 

That  her  words,  in  respect  to  being  alone  with  God 
were  not  meaningless,  came  to  be  understood  by  her 
people  ;  and  they  learned  not  to  look  for  her,  or  disturb 
her  hours  upon  a  Saturday,  when  often  she  was  quiet 
in  her  lodge ;  or  sometimes  went  away  into  wild  nooks 
of  the  forest  in  sunny  weather,  her  faithful  Joe  busy- 
ing himself  with  his  basket-making  wherever  his  mis- 
tress might  indicate.  Clad  in  the  squirrel-skin  clothing 
given  her  by  the  Souriquois  maidens,  she  felt  the  cold 


THE  ACADIAN   WILD. 


181 


as  little  out  of  doors  in  ordinary  winter  weather  as  a 
fox  or  an  elk.  A  friendly  log,  whiuli  her  woodsman 
could  easily  provide,  with  a  few  branches  of  hendock, 
together  with  such  skins  as  Joe  took  with  him,  made 
it  easy  to  bivouac  wherever  the  fancy  of  the  day 
might  determine.  So  was  she  shut  witliin  the  wil- 
derness, like  some  woman  who  had  taken  vows  upon 
her,  and  entered  into  her  cell  in  some  storied  cloister. 
Under  the  solemn  pines  in  the  silent  north-land,  no 
solitude  could  be  more  perfect. 

Constance  had  no  such  rhapsodies  as  marked  the 
spiritual  experiences  of  Marie  do  I'lncarnation;  but 
there  were  sober  words  written  of  o'd  time,  which 
indicated  God's  friendliness  and  the  promise  of  his 
abiding,  —  and  these  had  great  weight  with  her.  The 
bitterness  of  her  early  years,  —  for  she  saw  it  now  to 
have  been  more  bitter  than  she  once  confessed  even 
to  herself,  —  in  what  was  really  a  disappointment,  —  in 
the  choice  made  by  Charnac6,  which  left  her  no  other 
choice  than  to  cleave  fast  to  the  God  of  her  youth,  — 
had  upon  her  the  effect  to  throw  her  back  upon  Him, 
and  to  form  witli  Him  that  "  mystical  union  "  which 
the  theologians  of  former  ages  dwelt  upon  so  much, — 
v/hatever  this  might  mean  when  subject  to  analysis. 
To  Constance  it  meant,  the  possibility  of  communion 
with  God  as  her  Friend,  —  and  that  was  enough. 

She  saw  no  visions,  but  she  had  the  implicit  faith 
of  Joan  of  Arc ;  and  in  the  great  solitudes  of  a  new 
world  she  carried  to  God  all  her  sorrows,  all  her 
hopes,  all  her  purposes. 


f] 


132 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


It  can  hardly  be  a  wonder,  that  there  were  days 
wlien  her  heart  was  empty  in  the  unpitying  wilder- 
ness. If  so,  she  must  have  had  deep  spiritual  sym- 
pathy with  the  most  devoted  men  of  tlie  Order  of 
Jesus,  who  during  so  many  years  moved  in  their  holy 
mission  across  the  monotonous  and  desolate  land  in 
winter ;  who  sometimes  said,  that  this  vast  continent, 
in  those  grim  ages  when  Acadia  was  first  visited  by 
Constance,  —  so  inhospitable,  so  rude,  so  rank  in  its 
wildernesses,  so  peopled  with  devils,  —  was  but  an . 
outskirt  of  tlie  world  of  woe. 

She  could  not  easily  get  so  far  from  the  scene  of 
her  daily  service,  as  to  forget  to  lilc  up  her  heart  to 
Him,  to  whom  all  flesh  came,  praying  for  the  savages, 
so  easily  mistaken  for  devils,  —  and  for  all  who  were 
ignorant  and  out  of  the  way. 

One  still  night,  when  she  was  alone,  gliding  over 
the  smooth  surface  of  the  lake  before  the  depth  of 
snow  hindered  such  recreation,  as  she  had  been  pray- 
ing for  her  own  home,  for  her  little  child,  —  her 
mother-eyes  saw  afar  off,  with  that  forecasting  vision 
which  reads  or  seeks  to  read  the  record  of  predes- 
tined years.  Just  then  a  brilliant  meteor  rushed  in 
splendor  just  above  the  lake,  as  it  seemed  to  her,  — 
falling  in  the  forest  upon  the  south.  It  made  sucli 
an  impression  upon  the  mind  of  Constance,  that  she 
spoke  of  it  to  Madame  Gibones  upon  her  second 
visit  to  Boston,  just  before  she  was  cut  off  in  the  early 
bloom  of  her  unfolding  life. 

If  Constance  kept  up  a  brave  heart  before  her  hus- 


THE  ACADIAN  WILD. 


133 


band  and  Henrietta,  in  relation  to  Eichelieu  and  his 
Acadian  plans,  she  did  not  hesitate  to  make  known 
to  God  all  her  fears.  She  prayed,  that  He  would 
withhold  from  the  wise  and  crafty  the  wisdom  needed  | 
to  people  America  with  colonists  opposed  to  freedom 
of  thouglit  and  worship;  and  that  there  might  come  to 
the  coast  such  men  —  even  if  Englishmen  —  as  Crom- 
well and  Hampden,  who  had  been  mentioned  in  the 
recent  mail  as  having  recently  actually  embarked  for 
tlie  new  world  but  temporarily  detained.  She  could 
not  hold  her  heart  back  from  praying  for  some  of  the 
ancient  houses  of  her  own  native  city,  that  those  able 
men  might  come  to  America,  —  and  she  prayed  that 
God  would  so  guide  the  feet  of  her  little  brother,  who 
alone  remained  of  her  father's  house. 

February  was  spent  by  Constance  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Salmon  river.  It  was  the  last  Saturday  in  the 
month.  She  was  perhaps  not  a  little  worn  with  her 
steadfast  devotion  to  her  mission,  and  not  a  little  dis- 
turbed by  reports  brought  from  the  Penobscot  by  Jean 
Pitchibat.  The  crust  upon  the  snow  favoring  a  longer 
excursion  than  common,  she  went  some  distance  from 
the  lake,  beyond  the  first  range  of  hills  westerly.  The 
tingling  sensation  of  out  door  life  in  bracing  winter 
weather,  when  contrasted  with  the  long  hours  she  had 
made  with  the  Malechite  children  for  many  days  pre- 
ceding, led  her  further  than  she  had  first  planned.  It 
was  not  until  she  had  found  a  sheltered  spot  upon  the ' 
top  of  a  low  hill  without  prospect,  among  thickets  of 
young  hemlocks,  and  Joe  had  kindled  a  fire  for  her 


134 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


under  the  naked  limbs  of  a  great  oak,  crooked,  gaunt, 
chilled  by  the  winter  winds,  —  that  she  became  sen- 
sible how  cold  it  was. 

Fog  and  frost  had  covered  the  entire  forest  with 
silver,  or  spangles  of  crystal ;  and  the  glory  of  the 
sun,  retlected  from  every  reed  and  shrub,  from  the 
fir-trees  commonly  so  dark  against  the  winter  sky, 
and  from  the  fine  outlines  of  the  maple  and  the  ash 
as  if  they  had  blossomed  with  diamonds,  —  had  led 
Constance  far,  in  a  clear  cold  day  when  the  sun  had 
lost  his  fire. 

Soon  after  noon,  when  this  woman  in  the  wilder- 
ness had  craved  God's  blessing  upon  her  little  parched 
corn,  the  sun  was  obscured,  the  skies  became  heavy, 
the  clouds  thickened,  and  the  horizon  was  dark.  A 
storm  was  gathering;  and  the  wind  began  to  moan. 

It  is  not  certain  that  Constance  was  peculiarly 
sensitive  to  the  conditions  of  the  outer  world,  as 
some  are  whose  natures  are  strongly  sympathetic, 
lie  that  as  it  may,  the  thought  was  forced  upon  her, 
as  she  quickened  her  returning  steps,  that  as  the 
morning  with  its  glitter  of  hundreds  of  square  leagues 
of  jewels  had  gone  by  forever,  she  had  now  in  her 
own  life  nothing  to  which  to  look  forward  but  a 
oatherinfj  storm  and  sunset. 

All  the  morning  her  mind  had  been  running 
over  the  happy  days  of  her  childhood,  and  dawning 
womanhood.  Until  she  was  twenty-three  years  old 
she  had  loved,  perhaps  foolishly  but  fondly,  one 
whom  she  refused  to  marry  partly  out  of  respect 


THE  ACADIAN  WILD. 


135 


to  Paul,  and  partly  out  of  fear  of  Loyola.  And 
ever  since  then,  she  had  idealized  the  man,  think- 
ing; him  without  fault  save  in  the  excess  of  his  devo- 
tion  to  what  she  believed  to  be  a  spiritually  misleading 
religious  system.  But  now  it  was  apparent  that  her 
child  friend  was  dead,  —  that  Charnace  was  not  the 
same  man  with  Charles  of  La  Rochelle.  Since  she 
saw  him,  he  had  developed  what  was  in  him.  He 
liad  become  an  intriguer,  scheming  always  for  the 
mastery;  following  blindly  —  as  she  believed  —  the 
inspiration  of  his  Superior,  —  and  just  now  the  in- 
spiration of  Richelieu. 

Was  tliis  the  cloud  obscurinf?  the  sun  ?  It  was 
not.  She  did  not,  she  would  not  believe  eyes  or 
ears ;  she  would  believe  her  own  heart.  Her  heart 
told  her  that  Charles  of  La  Rochelle  had  not  changed. 
It  had  forced  itself  upon  her,  as  she  walked  through 
the  glittering  avenue  of  the  palace  of  jewels ;  and 
now  agjain  as  she  went  home — if  her  lodo-e  was  her 
home  —  when  the  jewels  were  falling  under  the  sad 
fingering  of  the  wind,  which  snapped  the  twigs  and 
made  havoc  with  the  beautiful  world,  —  it  was  forced 
upon  her  that  Charnac(^  the  man  had  not  changed. 
He  was  too  noble.  She  believed  that  he  was  heartily 
sick  of  the  Jesuits,  and  a  disbeliever  in  the  system, 
swinging  back  to  the  faith  of  his  mother. 

"What  if?"  And  she  moaned  aloud,  loudly  like 
the  moaning  wind,  when  she  said  that.  She  looked 
around  to  see  whether  Joe  was  too  near,  and  had 
overheard  her  thinking  aloud.     No,  he  was  not  in 


136  CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 

but  his  dog  was, — just  in  advance  of  his 


sight; 
master, 

"  What  if  ? "  And  she  stayed  her  steps ;  she  was 
getting  too  near  the  Indian  village.  Constance  told 
Joe  to  go  forward,  and  prepare  her  dinner ;  and  she 
waited  in  the  gathering  gloom  of  the  starless  night. 
She  knew  Charnacd  too  well.  No  man  sne  had  ever 
met  was  so  domestic  as  he  in  his  tastes  and  habits, 
or  in  his  heart.  He  desired  most  of  all  a  home.  He 
loved  to  have  fine  things  about  him.  He  would  snatch 
at  his  present  opportunity  to  pluck  up  wealth  by  the 
hands  of  Briareus,  the  Hundred  Associates, — and  then 
he  would  ha\'e  a  home.  Jean's  words  had  disturbed 
her.  "  What  if  ? "  And  she  almost  shrieked  with 
terror,  as  the  thought  flashed  upon  her  mind,  and 
stood  in  illumination,  as  if  written  upon  the  dark 
sky  in  words  of  fire.  "What  if  his  heart  is  not 
still  ?  what  if  he  was  not  satisfied  when  he  decided 
to  cling  to  the  papacy  and  the  Jesuits  instead  of 
marrying  me  ?  He  acted  from  a  mistaken  sense  of 
religious  duty.  What  if  he  has  now  found  out  his 
mistake?  He  wanted  to  marry  me,  he  protested, 
because  he  loved  me.  If  he  has  discovered  his 
mistake  in  uniting  himself  to  the  Jesuits,  his  love 
for  me  will  certainly  rise  supreme,  and  control  every 
act  of  his  life. 

"His  iron  will  has  been  schooled  for  years  by  a 
different  standard  of  right  and  wrong  than  tliat  of 
God's  Word.  He  believes  that  the  end  sanctifies  the 
means.    He  gets  it  from  his  church,  which  he  be- 


THE  ACADIAN  WILD. 


137 


lieves  to  be  infallible,  and  inspired  of  God,  so  stand- 
ing to  him  as  the  very  word  of  the  living  God.  He 
is  made  ready  by  his  very  piety  to  do  wrong  for  the 
greater  glory  of  God.  He  will  shield  himself  behind 
the  order  of  his  Superior,  and  go  forward.  How  far 
will  he  go  ? " 

She  paused  a  moment,  as  if,  by  so  doing  and  look- 
ing with  fixed  eyes,  she  could  discern  how  far  Char- 
nac^  would  go,  —  in  grasping  for  his  Associates,  in 
tearing  up  Protestantism  for  his  Superior,  and  in 
giving  definite  form  to  the  sentiments  of  his  own 
heart  toward  her.  Then  she  spoke  in  a  low  tone, 
as  if  her  Angel  might  listen  to  her,  asking,  — 

"  Is  there  anything  in  this  world  so  much  like  hell 
as  a  confusion  of  one's  sense  of  right  ?  Are  not  men 
led  by  it  into  the  worst  of  ways,  dreaming  that  they 
are  in  the  divine  paths  ?  They  will  act  like  demons ; 
and  when  ihQj  become  conscious  of  what  they  have 
done,  they  will  wail,  as  if  in  the  world  of  woe.  Char- 
nac^  will  go  straight  forward,  and  from  his  wrong 
sense  of  what  is  right  he  will  act  like  the  worst  of 
men.  And  he  will  not  pause  till  the  evil  is  done. 
Then  he  will  reflect.  He  will  curse  the  Society  of 
Jesus.  He  will  curse  the  Pope  and  all  his  angels. 
And  he  will  yearn  with  unspeakable  longing  for  the 
simple  faith  of  his  mother.  And  he  will  long  for 
me,  —  when  I  am  dead.  May  God  shield  my  hus- 
band, and  my  child." 

The  gulf  was  before  her.  She  had  looked  into  it. 
Constance  then  calmed  herself.    Kneeling  upon  the 


138 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


snow,  overlooking  not  the  frozen  lake  but  a  great 
shoreless  sea  of  darkness,  darkness  that  could  be 
felt,  she  prayed :  —  "  May  we  never  meet.  But  be- 
fore I  die,  permit  me  to  direct  his  soul  to  Thee,  Thou 
Friend  of  the  friendless,  Thou  Bride  of  every  longing 
heart." 


-T  ■     «, 


BODERIQO  PALLADIO. 


139 


XVII. 


RODERIGO   PALLADIO. 


'T^HE  Jesuit  by  whom  Charnac^  was  taught  when 
•*-  he  was  a  lad  and  youth,  Eoderigo  Palladio, 
brought  to  his  work  not  only  the  beautiful  spirit  of 
his  accomplished  and  devout  Hispano-Italico  mother, 
but  her  singular  beauty.  Of  the  corps  of  carefully 
selected  young  teachers  sent  to  La  Eochelle  by  the 
Jesuits  upon  their  restoration  to  France  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  after  their  brief  dispersion,  he 
was  the  only  one  who  kept  his  footing  in  the  great 
Protestant  strong  hold. 

Charnac^  must  indeed  have  been  an  idiot  not  to 
have  loved  him,  when  he  had  once  thoroughly  made 
his  acquaintance.  Palladio's  mother  had  been  startled 
by  the  increasing  power  of  the  reformed  religion, 
which  threatened  strongly  to  take  from  France  the 
proud  title  — "  the  eldest  son  of  the  Church."  She 
had  no  hope,  save  in  giving  the  world  over  to  the 
Society  of  Jesus ;  which  seemed  to  her,  —  in  her 
extended  studies  in  the  history  and  theology  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  controversial  treatises  of  the  Eefor- 
mation,  to  which,  under  the  guidance  of  her  confessor 
Fra  Camaxo,  she  had  access  at  her  house  in  Lyons 
by  giving  shelter  to  the  library  of  the  Jesuit  college 


140 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


>  I 


during  the  dispersion  of  the  Order,  —  to  furnish  the 
organization  best  fitted  to  stay  the  defection  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  which  plainly  needed  reformation, 
but  not  destruction. 

She  was  confident  of  a  long  and  honored  career  for 
the  Church  of  God  already  hoar  with  ages,  if,  at  this 
crisis  in  her  history,  the  most  devoted  of  her  sons 
could  be  marslialled  as  one  man,  and  placed  under 
intelligent  direction.  Loyola  would  not  have  lived 
in  vain,  if  his  work  had  won  for  him  no  other  ad- 
mirer than  this  intelligent  and  godly  woman  Mad- 
ame Jaqueline  Palladio,^  who  was  attracted  to  it  first 
of  all  as  a  work  of  consummate  art,  as  she  had  been 
by  the  Moses  of  Angelo,  the  Last  Judgment,  or  the 
dome  of  St.  Peter's. 

What  could  be  more  sublime  than  the  conception 
of  bringing  the  entire  body  of  the  Church  into  a  per- 
fect state  of  purity,  of  unselfish  handling  of  all  earthly 
goods,  and  of  obedience  even  in  thought  to  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Highest,  that  the  earth  might  so 
resemble  heaven  ?  If  the  holy  Catholic  Church  offered 
the  only  way  of  salvation,  the  Order  of  Jesuits  offered 
the  only  way  of  saving  the  Church  when  assaulted 
by  the  powers  of  darkness ;  and  this  Society  of  the 
devoted  followers  of  Jesus  was  deserving  not  only  of 
her  own  confidence,  but  with  sincere  devotion  she 
gave  to  the  Order  her  only  son. 

The  beautiful   boy,  with    his    heart   full  of  his 

1  The  young  widow  of  Palladio  of  Vicenza,  whose  geniiis  did  so 
much  to  adorn  the  Italian  cities. 


£aL. 


RODERIQO  PALLADIO. 


141 


mother's  tenderness,  was  dedicated  to  this  service,  as 
her  holiest  offering  to  God.  The  little  child  was 
taught  to  look  upon  the  Church  as  his  mother,  as  the 
child  Jesus  looked  to  Mary.  And  he  was  taught  by 
his  own  mother's  lips,  in  all  his  growing  years,  that 
his  espousals  were  due  to  the  Church  tlie  bride  of 
Christ,  that  —  in  such  sphere  as  he  might  fill  —  he 
should  be  like  the  Vicar  of  God  upon  the  earth,  by 
choosing  the  Church  as  his  companion  in  life,  seeking 
a  celestial  union  rather  than  an  earthly  marriage. 

How  strange  the  outcome, — this  woman  Jaqueline, 
of  Lyons,  in  this  way,  stole  away  the  son  of  Marthe 
de  Menou  of  La  Eochelle,  and  hindered  his  marriage 
with  Constance,  and  embroiled  New  France  in  civil 
war. 

It  was  impossible  to  discern  what  the  end  would  be. 
The  Society  of  Jesus,  seeking  to  save  the  Church,  was 
like  the  ark  which  took  into  it  things  clean  and  un- 
clean. If  every  Jesuit  in  the  Order  had  been  like 
Eoderigo  Palladio,  the  name  of  Charnace  would  have 
stood  high  upon  the  roll  of  missionaries,  perhaps 
consecrating  the  soil  of  some  far  off  land  with  his 
martyr  blood. 

But  it  was  found  to  be  practically  impossible,  in 
the  working  of  the  Society,  to  achieve  success  without 
the  leadership  of  men  of  pronounced  individuality; 
men  not  always  pliant,  not  easily  moved  about  by 
kings  or  popes,  or  even  by  such  kindly  criticism  by 
inferiors  as  no  theory  could  avail  to  suppress.  And 
the  manifest  success  of  the  Order,  advancing  to  the 


142 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


liigliest  places  of  the  world,  led  able  men  very  imper- 
fectly sanctilied  to  take  vows,  and  by  their  surpassing 
ability  to  reacli  the  highest  positions  of  trust. 

The  system  as  such  had  so  little  power  to  clear  it- 
self of  the  worst  of  men,  that  civilized  nations  found 
it  practically  impossible  to  protect  themselves,  save 
by  clearing  themselves  of  the  Order  itself. 

If  all  members  had  been  filled  with  that  unselfish 
love  which  characterized  the  best,  the  Society  and 
the  world  would  have  reaped  the  best  fruits  pos- 
sible to  be  reached  under  this  svstem:  whose  fun- 
damental  theory  required  the  members  "  to  vancpiish 
and  subdue  the  loftiest  and  most  difficult  part  of 
themselves,  their  will  and  judgment,"  and  "to  per- 
form the  order,  let  it  be  what  it  may,  of  the  Superior, 
with  a  certain  blind  impulse  of  an  eager  will,  which 
will  bear  them  forward  without  giving  space  for 
inquiry."  ^  Is  it  not  related,  that  "  the  Abbot  John 
inquired  not  whether  what  he  was  ordered  to  do  was 
useful  or  not ;  but  continued  daily,  throughout  a  year, 
to  water  the  dead  stump  of  a  tree  "  ?  ^ 

Certainly  no  conception  can  be  more  sublime  than 
that  which  the  founder  of  the  Order  saw,  when  he 
would  utterly  destroy  the  individuality  of  every  man, 
and  create,  from  them  all,  one  vast  personality  fitted 
to  be  the  bride  of  Christ  upon  the  earth,  —  actuated 
solely  by  the  infallible  Vicar  of  God:  "the  lowest 
ranks  being  controlled  by  means  of  those  next 
above  them,  and  these  by  the  higher;  one  move- 

1  Loyola's  Letter  on  Obedience  (Taylor's  trans.).  ^  Idem. 


ir1iiiiiii 


RODERIGO  PALLADIO. 


143 


ment  originating  at  the  centre  being  communicated 
to  the  extremities."  ^ 

It  is  no  wonder  tliat  tliis  system  fitted  men  for  a 
certain  kind  of  power.  The  world  had  need  not  only 
of  men  eflicient  by  nature,  but  trained  for  special 
service.  They  were  so  laborious,  so  persevering  that 
they  found  a  place.  This  system,  moreover,  had  th(5 
unequalled  advantage  of  being  able  at  any  moment  to 
command  the  implicit  obedience,  for  any  service,  of  a 
great  body  of  men  throughout  the  world ;  as  if  the 
globe  had  been  a  great  monastery,  in  which  the  eye 
of  the  General  controlled  the  action  of  every  man. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  ablest  members  of  the 
Order  always  construed  tlie  rules,  so  as  to  allow  —  to 
themselves  at  least  —  all  needed  freedom  of  action ; 
and  men  of  warm  hearts  .and  glowing  love  were  will- 
ing to  give  their  lives  to  a  system,  which  tended  to 
reduce  the  whole  religious  world  to  mere  mechanism. 

When,  therefore,  Koderigo  Palladio  devoted  his  en- 
tire time,  not  to  instruction  alone,  but  to  obtaining 
the  control  of  the  affections  and  the  conscience  of 
Charles  de  Menou,  Sieur  Hilaire  Charnac^,  of  ten  years 
old,  it  was  with  the  love  of  a  mother  —  represent- 
ing the  motherhood  of  the  Church  —  to  a  motherless 
boy.  And  the  teacher  was  so  imbued  with  the  spirit 
of  religion,  and  of  the  Order  of  which  he  was  a  vital 
part,  that  he  filled  the  child's  mind  with  the  most 
surpassing  ambition  to  be  of  use  to  God  and  man,  in 
the  Catholic  Church  and  in  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

*  Letter  on  Obedience. 


I     > 


3i 


t 


^    I 
I  J 


144 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


It  was  indeed  many  years  before  the  child  of  Pro- 
testant parents  who  was  beloved  of  Constance,  could 
be  brought  by  insensible  steps  to  cut  off  all  tender 
ties,  and  devote  himself  to  God  as  a  Jesuit.  With 
scarcely  perceptible  motion  he  was  led  far,  before  he 
perceived,  as  a  growing  lad,  tliat  he  had  gradually, 
irrevocably,  made  great  advance  in  a  new  religious 
pathway. 

When  he  finally  left  the  home  of  his  youth,  it 
seemed  to  him  reasonable  that  he  should  not  begin 
all  over  again  to  decide  the  great  religious  problems 
of  the  world ;  that  Constance  must  be  in  serious 
error,  if  she  should  undertake  to  settle  all  things  for 
herself,  aided  only  by  her  reason  and  the  interpreta- 
tion which  she  personally  put  upon  what  she  called 
God's  Word,  —  and  in  still  worse  error  if  she  should 
not  think  for  herself,  but  take  the  interpretation  of 
John  Calvin,  the  Protestant  pope. 

It  seemed  to  him  far  wiser,  as  a  young  man,  !• 
submit  his  intellect,  his  judgment,  to  the  authority  of 
the  Church,  which  alone  —  by  all  the  wisdom  of  ages 
and  as  the  infallible  holder  of  the  keys  of  earth  and 
heaven  —  could  rightly  interpret  the  ancient  Scrip- 
tures. Uncertain  for  himself,  as  to  what  was  right, 
he  threw  himself  back  upon  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter ; 
and  allowed  Urban  VIII.  to  reign  in  his  own  heart  as 
the  authorized  Vicar  of  God,  —  that  is,  so  far  as  he 
might  be  allowed  to  do  so  by  any  special  restrictions 
and  counter  orders  issued  from  time  to  time  by  the 
General  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 


RICHELIEU'S  ECHO, 


145 


XVIII. 


RICHELIEU'S   ECHO. 


WHEN  Charles  of  La  Rochelle  entered  the  St. 
Pol  do  Leon,  he  came  in  contact  with  teachers 
less  self-denying,  less  devout,  less  modest,  less  amiable, 
less  attractive,  less  keen,  than  the  peerless  Palladio ; 
they  were  men  of  greater  personal  ambition,  more 
selfish  aims,  —  and  somj  of  them  were  corrupt  and 
unscrupulous,  illustrating  in  their  own  lives  that  doc- 
trine of  devils,  th  it  the  end  sanctifies  the  means. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if  in  the  age  of  Riche- 
lieu there  were  bad  men  in  the  Papal  Church.  Who 
can  tell  when  the  night  of  the  dark  ages  passed  away 
from  every  hamlet  in  France  ?  The  spirit  of  private 
lawless  tyranny,  ruling  by  the  right  arm,  had  not  yet 
died  out  of  many  men  of  surprising  vigor ;  the  Papal 
Churcli  still  had  preferment  for  able  men  of  this 
stamp. 

It  was  hard  to  decide  what  was  right.  The  stand- 
ards were  doubtful.  For  ages  the  Church  had  for- 
bidden men  to  think ;  had  invoked  the  secular  power 
to  burn  for  the  variation  of  a  shade  of  thought,  upon 
abstruse  doctrines  not  affecting  morality  between  man 
and  man.     The  religious  wars  of  France  had  divided 

10 


146 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


kinsfolk  and  cloven  in  twain  many  a  domestic  hearth. 
The  reformed  churches  were  contending  among  them- 
selves, and  some  were  fighting  against  civil  authority. 
Many  conservative  men  of  well  ordered  lives  thought 
it  the  only  safe  course  to  adhere  to  the  Vicar  of  God 
and  his  dictum ;  and,  if  it  were  of  evil,  to  trust  that 
God  would  accept  their  right  intent.  So,  multitudes 
of  obscure  devout  persons  were  fed  with  meat  out  of 
heaven,  borne  to  them  by  unclean  ravens. 

Charnace,  as  he  began  now  to  style  himself,  with 
all  his  manly  ambitions  to  be  of  service,  met  spirit- 
ual guides  most  crafty  and  ungodly  among  those  who 
obtained  great  influence  over  him  in  the  Jesuit  Col- 
lege in  Paris.  Before  he  was  conscious  of  what  he 
was  doing,  his  vows  of  obedience  had  made  him  a 
party  to  transactions,  which  were  commonly  thought 
to  be  right  by  the  circle  in  which  he  moved;  but 
which  could  never  be  squared  by  the  side  of  the 
written  Word  of  God,  —  the  Word  of  God  being  of  no 
effect  by  the  traditions  of  men.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances his  conscience  was  warped;  the  light 
that  was  in  him  became  darkness,  and  great  was 
that  darkness. 

His  local  knowledge  of  La  Rochelle  was  of  use  to 
Eichelieu ;  the  knowledge  of  the  fur  business  and  of 
Acf  iia,  which  he  had  picked  up  in  his  native  city, 
greatly  interested  Eichelieu,  that  man  of  universal 
genius.  The  magnetism  of  him,  who  had  now  acliieved 
what  the  kings  of  France  had  tried  for,  during  five 
hundred  years,  in  unifying  the  nation,  told  wonder- 


RICHELIEU'S  ECHO. 


147 


fully  upon  Charnac^ ;  as  it  could  not  fail  to  do  upon 
all  who  were  not  mere  hare-brained  courtiers. 

"The  universal  spider,"  Louis  XI.,  whose  prodigious 
nose  indicated  the  soundest  practical  judgment  in 
affiiirs,  had  never  been  able  to  spin  the  web  he 
dreamed  of,  upon  which  he  was  to  stand  in  the  centre 
and  be  connected  by  direct  lines  with  all  France : 
Eichelieu  in  his  Cardinal  robe  bad  accomplished  it 
for  Louis  XIIL,  —  perhaps  in  part  by  very  virtue  of 
his  ecclesiastical  office,  which  won  for  him  the  co- 
operation of  the  religious  forces  of  the  nation.  A 
peer  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  a  duke,  rich  as  a 
king,  making  most  costly  presents  to  a  king  who  did 
not  think  himself  belittled  to  take  them,  —  here  in 
reality  was  an  ecclesiastic  who  fulfilled  the  promises 
which  Palladio  had  held  out  to  Charnacd,  that  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  belonged  to  God,  and  that 
the  Church  ouijjht  to  rule. 

It  was  a  tempting  offer  made  to  young  Charnac^, 
whose  clearheadedness  in  business  matters  had  at- 
tracted attention,  and  whose  ability  was  matched 
only  by  his  docility  and  readiness  to  serve,  —  when 
it  was  proposed  to  give  him  a  share  in  the  Company 
of  New  France,  to  the  organization  of  which  he  had 
so  largely  contributed  by  his  masterly  presentation 
of  the  ways  and  means  of  reaching  great  results 
in  commercial  gains,  which  would  amply  justify  the 
risk,  and  which  would  be  certain  to  open  new  fields 
rich  for  spiritual  harvest  among  pagan  peoples,  and 
a   new   area  for   the  extension  of  the  Church  by 


!;i  ,       :  IS 


s 


i     i 


148 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


emigration  to  a  land  otherwise  likely  to  be  seized  by 
Huguenots. 

Henceforth  the  lad,  the  youth,  the  young  man. 
was  no  longer  such, — he  was  a  man,  trusted,  honored, 
capable  of  fulfilling  the  trust  and  sustaining  the 
honor.  Charnacd  henceforth  was  an  integer  in  the 
State.  A  nation  had  grown  up  under  tlie  magician 
Richelieu,  and  the  boy  from  La  Rochclle  had  now 
an  opportunity  to  show  his  patriotism.  He  had  a 
country  to  serve.  He  stood  for  Acadia  in  the  nation. 
This  great  province  of  New  France  was  his  govern- 
ment ;  or  soon  would  be  so,  wholly,  "^ "  "^'our  could 
not  stand  in  the  way  of  the  kingdon  !od.     The 

great  machine  would  crush  La  Tour. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  Richelieu  had  an  echo  in 
the  Maine  woods;  the  new  continent  rising  out  of 
the  sea,  a  mere  resounding  surface  for  the  voice  of 
that  feeble  bodied  priest  whose  intellect  ruled  no 
small  part  of  the  world. 

The  only  real  difficulty  in  the  way  of  carrying 
to  completion  the  plans  formed  was,  that  the  Jesuits 
forgot  to  take  out  Charnac^'s  heart,  —  when  they  set 
him  afloat  upon  a  western  sea.  They  did  not  dream 
that  Constance  was  in  Acadia,  a  rival  of  the  Papal 
Church  and  even  of  Richelieu. 

The  Hundred  Associates,  nominally  represented  by 
M.  Razilly  as  first  on  account  of  the  noney  he  was 
able  to  secure  for  the  enterprise,  looked  to  Charnacc!^ 
as  the  responsible  head,  as  he  really  became  by  Go\ - 


ernor  Razilly's  death ;  and, 


although 


the   Hundred 


•-Hv 


RICHELIEU'S  FCHO. 


149 


had  no  occasion  to  seek  a  present  quarrel  with  La 
Tour,  whom  they  had  found  first  in  the  field  and 
entrenched  in  the  good  graces  of  the  King,  it  was 
understood  that  having  gained  the  King's  assent  to  a 
division  of  the  territory  of  which  La  Tour  had  held 
the  monopoly  of  trade  and  government,  they  would 
press  the  matter  of  removing  him  altogether,  as  soon 
as  occasion  might  be  found. 

The  General  of  the  Jesuits  was  peremptory  in  his 
order  to  seek  early  occasion  to  quarrel  with  La  Tour, 
who  had  been  trained  as  a  Protestunt,  who  was  a 
Protestant,  and  who  could  not  be  counted  upon  for 
any  service  to  the  Church,  even  if  he  should  profess 
Catholicism,  as  he  did  in  applying  for  a  land  grant 
at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John.  The  contest  once 
opened,  the  Jesuits  had  access  to  the  conscience  of 
tlie  King ;  and  Kichelieu  would  be  governed  by  his 
interest,  which  would  be  promoted  by  the  fall  of  La 
Tour,  and  by  a  monopoly  for  the  Hundred. 

As  Charnac^  had  inherited  from  his  mother  schol- 
arly habits,  his  father's  character  was  perpetuated  in 
fine  mercantile  traits.  The  merchant,  the  trader,  was 
strong  in  him,  when  he  came  to  man's  estate.  And 
side  by  side  with  his  spirit  of  obedience,  there  was 
tlie  love  of  power.  Money  would  give  influence  ; 
influence  would  give  political  preferment;  political 
preferment  would  glorify  God  in  His  Church. 

The  contemporary  New  England  historians  say  that 
his  revenue  was  from  four  to  five  thousand  pounds 
sterling  per  annum  from  the  Penobscot,  of  which  he 


r 


i  1 


/•' 


!  : 


150 


CONSTANCE   UP  AC  All  A. 


practically  took  possession  soon  after  his  mission  was 
seated  at  Pentagoliet.  General  La  Tour  might  very 
well  have  quarrelled  with  his  rival  on  this  account, 
but  he  believed  in  making  money  by  peace  rather 
than  by  war ;  and  chose  to  develop  the  trade  of  the 
St.  John  basin  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  abide  his 
time  for  the  repossession  of  Pentagoliet,  which  un- 
questionably belonged  to  him  whether  tlie  trade 
of  the  Penobscot  did  or  not.  The  ground  for  quar- 
rel as  to  Port  Eoyal  and  La  Heve  has  been  al- 
luded to. 

The  building  of  the  fort  at  Jomsek  so  exasperated 
Charnac^  as  to  hasten  the  crisis.  It  was  unquestion- 
ably the  intention  of  the  King  in  giving  La  Tour  the 
mouth  of  the  Ouangondy  to  give  him  control  of  the 
fur  trade  of  the  river.  And  the  subdivision  between 
Charnace  and  La  Tour  made  by  th.e  King,  certainly 
gave  La  Tour  the  bulk  of  the  St.  John  trade.  Still 
there  is  a  strong  probability,  although  it  is  not  alluded 
to  by  any  of  the  historians  who  have  treated  of  the 
period,  that  Jemsek  was  built  upon  land  nominally 
within  the  precinct  of  Charnace.  However  that  may 
have  been,  Jemsek  controlled  the  situation.  The 
clever  La  Tour  had  long  known  the  resources  of  this 
rich  basin ;  and  he  would  part  with  all  other  rights 
in  Acadia  rather  than  lose  it.  And  he  cunningly 
moved  in  season  to  hold  it,  as  soon  as  it  was  evident 
to  him  that  there  was  to  be  a  conflict. 

The  St.  John  trade  handled  more  than  three  thou- 
sand skins  annually,  at  a  profit  of  from  one  hundred  to 


RICHELIEU'S  ECHO. 


151 


one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  livres,^  T  i  a  question 
of  lives  or  livres,  the  public  sentiment  of  the  Hunrlred, 
of  the  courtiers,  of  Richelieu,  and  of  the  ecclesiastics 
interested,  would  not  bear  out  Charnac^  in  sparing 
the  lives  and  losing  the  livres.  It  was  an  age  in 
which  highway  robbery  was  common. 

It  was  brought  home  to  Charnac^  tnat  since  he 
had  himself  made  the  representations  of  profit,  which 
had  led  to  the  formation  of  the  company,  he  could 
not  safely  stand  by,  and  see  La  Tour,  by  controlling 
Jerasek,  defy  them  all,  and  sweep  in  an  annual  profit 
equal  to  from  thirty-three  to  fifty  per  cent  upon  the 
entire  cash  capital  of  the  Associates. 

Charnac^  had  been  put  to  great  disadvantage  by 
the  fates.  During  all  those  years  in  which  he  him- 
self had  been  studying  an  antiquated  theology,  and 
splitting  hairs  with  the  Calvinists,  and  meditating 
upon  the  dolors  of  heretics  in  their  final  state,  La 
Tour  had  been  training  himself  by  actual  trapping 
among  the  Acadian  aborigines,  and  learning  all  the 
ins  and  outs  of  the  fur  business,  and  had  made  friends 
among  all  tribes,  :ind  knew  all  rivers;  and  he  had 
already  acquired  a  good  working  capital  by  which  he 
CO  aid  build  forts  and  maintain  garrisons,  and  con- 
stantly enlarge  his  trade ;  and  he  had  created  channels 
which  would  as  certainly  pour  an  enormous  wealth 
into  his  feudal  castle,  as  the  great  river  itself  would 
gather  its  waters  and  pour  them  into  the  Bay  of 

J  Colonie  Feodale,  L'Acadie ;  M.  Rameau:  Paris,  1877.  pp. 
73,  95. 


r 


I 


152 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Fundy.  This  practical  education  of  his  rival,  and  the 
actual  control  he  had  obtained  in  the  country  were, 
under  the  circumstances,  of  inestimable  worth. 

If  Charr.ac^  should  now  seize  his  rival,  and  take 
the  results  of  his  hard  years,  it  would  accord  with 
the  customs  of  feudal  lords;  and  also  with  those 
precious  maxims  he  had  learned  at  Paris,  about  doing 
all  sorts  of  doubtful  or  clearly  wrong  things  for  the 
greater  glory  of  God,  which  he  had  been  at  such  pains 
to  learn,  which  —  if  not  followed  —  would  be  of  little 
profit  to  him. 

A  thousand  motives  filled  him  with  madness,  that 
he  should  put  forth  every  effort  within  his  power  to 
supplant  his  rival.^  Like  a  bolt  out  of  heaven  there 
had  come  a  new  motive  into  his  life.  He  had  not 
thought  to  see  Constance  in  Acadia.  Had  not  God 
brought  him  hither  in  order  to  rectify  the  great  mis- 
take of  his  life  ?  Was  not  this  strange  ordering  from 
his  Superior  to  crush  La  Tour,  a  part  of  a  celestial 
ordering  for  accomplishing  that  which  was  plainly 
ordained  on  liigh  ?  Charnacd  did  not  dare  to  reason 
with  himself  about  it.  His  heart  beat  wildly  when- 
ever he  thought  of  actually  seeing  Jemsek  and  Fort 
La  Tour.     Should  he  see  them  ? 


1  Kameau,  p.  95. 


C EARN  ACE  AND  HIS   SNOW  SHOES.       153 


XIX. 
CHARNAC^  AND  HIS  SNOW  SHOES. 


'T^HEKE  was  so  much  frost  in  the  long  gun  barrel 
-*■  as  to  require  great  care  in  handling  without 
buckskins,  when  Charnacd  set  out  upon  his  snow 
shoes  in  the  clear  cold  sunshine  for  a  day  in  the 
forest  country  between  Biguyduce  and  the  Penob- 
scot. The  sweet  face,  the  finely  cut  features,  the 
strong  personality,  the  spirit  so  serene  toward  all 
things  earthly,  so  impassioned  toward  all  things 
heavenly,  the  marvellous  combination  of  attractive 
qualities  in  Constance  as  he  had  known  her  in 
former  years,  had  been  in  his  first  waking  thoughts ; 
as  in  truth  they  had,  perhaps,  too  often  occupied  his 
waking  hours  by  night  in  place  of  those  forms  divine 
which  he  had  sometimes  imagined  that  he  saw  when 
he  first  consecrated  himself  to  his  sacred  studies. 

Hardly  did  he  find  him«elf  five  miles  away,  mov- 
ing slowly,  watching,  listening,  searching  the  new  fal- 
len snow  to  see  what  creature  might  have  tracked 
it  since  the  dawn,  when  he  was  compelled  to  rub 
snow  upon  frost  bites;  he  had  been  too  closely 
kept  within  quarters  since  winter  began.  What 
else  could  occupy  his  winter  hours  in  Pentagoiiet  so 


I 


1  I 


154 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


well  as  the  investigation  of  Indian  words  and  signs, 
and  the  interpretatiori  to  the  barbarians  who  served 
him  of  the  mysteries  of  the  faith  ?  If  his  early  morn- 
ing hours  usually  sufficed  him  for  the  secular  cares 
of  his  position,  what  better  use  for  the  remainder  of 
short  days  and  long  evenings  could  he  have  found 
than  systematic  study  of  the  essentials  of  religion,  and 
the  attempt  so  to  simplify  them  that  the  wild  men  of 
the  woods  might  know  Goc  as  well  as  receive  baptism, 
and  might  perceive  the  path  of  life  as  readily  as  they 
could  discern  their  way  through  the  intricate  forest  ? 
He  had  by  this  method  not  unlikely  exposed  him- 
self too  little  to  the  greetings  of  the  wholesome  north 
wind. 

The  enthusiasm  of  his  own  spies,  when  making 
their  reports  rel;iting  to  Constance,  had,  however, 
now  so  disturbed  his  usual  avocations,  that  he 
needed  the  recreation  of  a  day's  hunting.  If  he 
took  little  interest  in  following  and  killing,  it  was 
at  the  least  a  delimit  to  see  how  manv  of  God's 
creatures  were  running  wild  and  free,  in  happy  ig- 
norance of  the  weights  and  woes  which  bore  so 
heavily  upon  the  huntsman. 

La  Tour,  indeed,  his  spies  had  taught  him  to  hate 
more  and  more.  Yes,  it  was  a  word  well  chosen :  it 
was  employed  by  the  sweet  psalmist  of  the  Hebrews, 
and  there  had  been  no  true  hero  of  the  Holy  Faith 
who  did  not  hate  as  well  as  love.  Charnacd  kept  his 
hate  for  his  enemies.  La  Tour  was  too  cunning,  too 
crafty,  too  competent,  too  successful  to  be  allowed  to 


il! 


CHARNAC^  AND  HIS  SNOW  SHOES.       155 

carry  on  his  career ;  every  day  was  making  it  more 
difficult  to  dislodge  him. 

But  Constance  had  won  almost  tlie  worship  of  those 
who  had  followed  her  in  the  unselfish  service  to  which 
she  devoted  her  life.  Could  it  be  that  in  the  days  of 
liis  unhappy  youth  he  had  been  led  to  choose  other- 
wise than  to  place  himself  in  the  high  and  holy  com- 
panionship of  this  fair  saint,  whose  practical  piety 
must  be  held  to  more  than  offset  the  errors  of  her 
opinions  ? 

He  tried  to  recall  the  sweet  face  of  Roderigo.  Was 
there  no  lineament  in  his  features  suggestive  of  the 
demoniacal  origin  of  the  work  which  he  did  ?  Had 
not  Charnac^  dreamed  only  the  last  night,  that  he 
saw  Falladio  pacing  up  and  down  the  gun-platform 
next  tlie  sea,  in  a  halo  of  sulphureous  light  ?  He 
knew  that  his  old  teacher  was  dead.  How  pale 
Roderigo  looked  to  him  in  his  dream,  and  how 
ghastly  was  the  light,  and  how  vivid  the  lambent 
flames. 

Kindling  to  flame  a  log  of  pitchwood,  which  he 
partially  excavated  from  its  bed  of  snow,  Charnac^ 
cut  a  few  hemlock  boughs  and  spread  them  upon  the 
drift,  and  lay  down  upon  them,  between  the  fire  and 
the  arbor  vitae  shrubs  which  hedged  off  the  wind. 
He  had  removed  his  snow  shoes  and  his  moccasins ; 
and  after  his  feet  were  thoroughly  warmed,  he  ate  his 
lunch  of  cold  venison.  He  then  occupied  himself  in 
tracing  the  tracks  of  the  little  wild  creatures,  which 
in  their  wide  paths  —  upon  the  sunny  and  sheltered 


II 


156 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


side  of  the  thick  hedge  of  evergreen  —  had  scam- 
pered in  delight  in  this  lonely  retreat,  or  wandered 
in  hunger  after  the  long  storm.  Perhaps  his  unsea- 
sonable coming  had  disturbed  their  sports  or  their 
forays  for  food. 

Lying  as  still  as  the  dead,  with  his  feet  to  the  fire,  , 
he  saw  in  a  little  while  a  few  birds  come  out,  as  if  by 
magic,  from  the  mysterious  forest ;  and  he  saw  them 
flitting  over  the  snow,  in  which  many  of  their  com- 
panions had  perished.  He  thought  of  tlie  sweet 
singers  which  had  starved  and  frozen  in  the  tough 
storm,  and  the  remorseless  winding  sheet  which  cov- 
ered them.  Perhaps  he  was  even  then  lying  over 
their  stark  forms,  encased  in  the  deep  drift  under 
the  evergreen  lee.  Had  all  thcoO  fallen  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  pitiful  Creator  ?  Was  not  the 
kindly  Saviour  of  men  mindful  of  the  sparrows  ? 
Even  St.  Francis  had  thought  of  the  sparrows. 

Then  he  thought  of  the  blinding  passions,  which 
slew  men  in  multitudes ;  and  of  his  own  instructions 
from  his  holy  Superior,  and  the  expectations  of  the 
Hundred  and  of  Richelieu,  that  Charnac^,  —  who 
would  not  wantonly  destroy  a  wildwood  bird,  and 
who  could  hardly  be  said  to  carry  the  heart  of  a 
hunter  with  his  long  gun  into  the  wilderness, — 
would  beleaguer  the  defenders  of  Fort  La  Tour,  and 
kill  if  needful  all  but  Constance. 

Was  Constance  in  reality  with  his  foe  La  Tour  ? 
He  would  give  all  the  furs  in  Acadia  could  he  know 
for  certain  that  she  had  never  risen  from  the  heaps 


CHARNAC^  AND  HIS  SNOW  SHOES.      I57 

of  starved  wretches  who  were  piled  in  the  narrow 
streets  of  La  Rochelle,  where  he  had  seen  her  in  his 
dreams  so  often  in  those  nights  of  that  terrible  siege. 
How  could  he  dispel  the  vision  that  had  haunted 
him  so  long,  of  her  unearthly  eyes  glowing  like  coals 
from  off  the  altar,  standing  out  so  prominently  over 
her  hollow  cheeks  before  she  died  ?  It  must  be  that 
his  long  fasti  :ig  in  his  lonely  cell,  and  his  .\nxiety,  and 
his  prayers  for  her  safety  had  made  him  ill ;  for  he  had 
never  been  so  impressed  with  anything  as  he  had  been 
with  this  vision  of  the  dying  and  dead  Constance. 
Could  it  be  that  in  those  terrible  days,  she  was  safe 
in  Acadia  ?     No,  not  safe.     La  Tour  was  in  Acadia. 

All  this  must  be  a  dreadful  dream.  He  was  de- 
cei\'ed  by  his  spies.  Constance  was  dead.  The 
whole  world,  conspiring  to  delude  him,  could  not 
make  him  believe  that  she  was  still  alive ;  that  she 
was  now  at  that  moment  in  the  same  all  circling 
forest  with  him,  only  far  away ;  that  mere  journey- 
ing for  days  and  days  of  the  winter  months  upon  his 
snow  shoes  would  bring  him  where  he  could  see  her 
with  his  own  eyes,  as  his  spies  reported  that  they  had 
seen  her. 

Would  it  do  any  good  to  test  the  matter,  to  write 
to  her,  and  perhaps  get  an  answer  in  her  own  hand  ? 
Would  it  not  possibly  open  some  way  out  of  this 
tangle,  as  to  stealing  upon  La  Tour  as  upon  a  wild 
beast  to  ensnare  him  or  kill  him,  for  his  furs,  and 
the  saving  of  souls  under  the  rule  of  Urban  rather 
than  by  the  rule  of  Calvin  ? 


'1 


I 

I 


158 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


He  had  often  thought  of  writing  to  Constance. 
But  what  to  write,  he  did  not  know.  She  might 
have  changed  toward  him.  She  could  not  love 
La  Tour,  whose  moral  sensibilities  were,  in  his 
judgment,  not  more  than  an  intelligent  beaver  might 
have. 

He  took  out  from  his  bosom  Constance's  Thomas 
k  Kenipis.  He  would  underscore  such  words  as 
would  make  a  letter,  and  send  it  to  her.  He  would 
so  write ;  "  I  warn  you,  that  I  must  be  obedient  to 
my  Superior.  Whatever  may  follow,  you  will  know 
that  I  still  love  you."  He  read  it  aloud.  "  No,  that 
is  nut  the  best  message.  1  will  send  this  book  to 
Constance,  and  merely  tell  her  that  I  have  not  ceased 
to  carry  it  next  my  lieart.  Tliere  will  be  nothing 
indelicate  about  that,  and  it  may  mean  much  or  little 
to  her,  according  to  her  own  heart." 

Then  he  concluded,  that  this  would  not  answer. 
It  was  not  positive  enough.  He  cut  a  note  sheet  of 
birch  bark,  and  wrote  upon  it;  then  held  it  off  at 
arm's-length,  and  read  it :  "  Constance,  I  have  not 
forgotten  you." 

"  It  will  not  be  needful  for  me  to  sign  it ;  my 
handwriting  is  sufficient  signature." 

Then  he  folded  it  up,  and  placed  it  carefully  in  the 
fire,  which  was  still  fitfully  blazing  and  smouldering. 
He  saw  his  letter  end  in  smoke. 

It  did  not  seem  kind,  or  thoughtful,  or  delicate  in 
him,  to  write  to  her  —  if  she  was  married.  "If, — 
would  God  that  she  was  dead. 


M*V 


CHASNACJS  and  his  SNOyV  SHOES.       159 

"  No  I  will  not  offend  her  sense  of  propriety  by 
writin<]j  to  her." 

He  had  spoken  in  an  excited,  passionate  tone,  — 
so  talking  to  himself,  and  the  wild  inhabitants  of  the 
wood.  Jean  Pitchibat  was  one  of  the  inhabitants, 
in  that  noon  tide.  It  was  when  he  told  Constance 
all  this  that  he  had  seen  and  heard,  that  she  had 
been  so  strangely  disturbed  upon  her  walk  amid  the 
glittering  halls  of  the  ice  palace  on  that  still  Saturday 
west  of  Grand  Lake,  -  -  strangely  disturbed  that  her 
name  should  still  I  ;  upon  the  lips  of  her  old  lover 
at  Castine. 

Charuacd  1  eaid  a  step  in  the  crisp  under-snow, 
where  the  fresh  snow  was  light. 

At  that  instant,  a  buck  and  doe,  and  a  fawn  of  last 
season,  appeared,  and  passed  through  the  forest  to  the 
windward.  Charnac^  fired  ;  and  quickly  strapped  on 
his  snow  shoes,  and  followed  the  blood  stains  of  the 
wounded. 

"  Was  it  the  doe  that  I  have  wounded  ? "  asked 
Ohh.  ncM,  too  sensitive  to  make  a  good  hunter.  • 

"  if  it  is  not  right  for  me  to  communicate  with 
Constance,  is  it  right  for  me  to  make  war  upon  her 
husband  ?  I  have  no  heart  to  kill  him  for  his  pelt- 
ries. By  what  authority  of  heaven  did  my  Superior 
insist  upon  this,  for  the  greater  glory  of  God  ? '  No 
sophisms  can  make  it  right,  that  I  should  disturb 
this  home.  The  world  is  big  enough  for  La  Tour 
and  for  the  Hundred ;  and  the  souls  of  the  savages 
will  not  be  lost  by  any  heresy  they  will  learn  from 


i 


160 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACAD T A. 


Constance.  I  will  countermand  the  orders  to  pre- 
pare for  embroiling  Acadia  in  civil  war." 

Slacking,  his  pm-suit  of  his  wounded  game,  he  cut 
a  great  strip  of  birch  bark.  He  had  seen,  in  the  li- 
brary of  St.  Pol  de  Leon,  the  gospel  of  Matthew 
written  in  Greek  upon  bircli  bark.  He  would  write 
down  his  thoughts.  It  would  amuse  him  to  do  it. 
He  wanted  to  look  his  thoughts  in  the  face,  and  see 
what  clothing  they  might  wear:  — 

"  Did  I  not  come  to  America  to  lose  myself?  Here 
I  have  found  myself,  —  rapacious,  cruel.  Am  I  per- 
sonally losing  character,  that  liiclielieu  may  grow 
rich  in  pelts  ?  I  will  no  longer  eat  out  my  heart 
upon  the  Biguyduce  mussel  beds  and  mud-fiats. 
I  will  not  turn  my  back  upon  the  dreams  of  my 
youth,  and  degenerate  into  a  mere  collector  of  elk- 
hides  and  fox  skins,  and  kill  a  rival  trader  —  to 
please  Richelieu.  And  as  to  the  Jesuit  Superior 
and  the  souls  of  the  savages,  I  will  fly  from  Con- 
stance. I  will  put  oceans  of  forest  between  us.  I 
will  go  to  the  head  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  descend 
the  great  river  that  flows  westward  to  the  Pacific.^ 
I  will  found  the  empire  of  God  upon  another  ocean. 
And  this  penance  of  unselfish  service  will  be  accepted 
of  God,  and  my  soul's  deepest  longings  will  be  satis- 

^  The  enterprising  Jesuit  missionaries  and  fur  traders  in  trav- 
ersing the  oi^euing  continent,  believed  that  the  head  of  tlie  St. 
Lawrence  was  a  little  west  of  Superior  in  a  lake  whose  western 
outflow  led  to  the  Pacific.  Charlevoix's  map  is  of  great  interest. 
And  the  wild  goose  chase  so  long  followed  by  Cham  plain,  as 
described  by  Parkman,  is  a  fascinating  stcry. 


CHARNAC^  AND  HIS  SNOW  SHOES.       161 


fied,  and  I  shall  be  at  rest.  And  the  General  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  will  proclaim  to  the  Order,  not  that 
Charnacd  was  disobedient,  but  that  he  was  so  con- 
sumed with  zeal  for  the  conversion  of  the  pagan 
world,  tliat  he  had  crossed  the  ocean  of  the  Ameri- 
can wilderness,  and  raised  the  cross  upon  the  hither 
side  of  the  unknown  rivers  and  mountains  of  the  New 
World,  opened  new  realms  for  France,  and  added  vast 
territories  to  the  kingdom  of  God  and  Ilis  Church." 

The  sun  no  sooner  turned  from  his  low  zenith  to 
hasten  his  going  down  in  tlie  short  winter's  day,  be- 
fore the  intense  cold  of  the  morning  was  renewed,  and 
began  by  aid  of  the  light  air  stirring  to  snap  now  and 
then  some  branch  in  the  forest.  The  fall  of  a  great 
limb  of  white  pine,  which  had  held  no  small  weight 
of  snow  upon  it  ■  mce  the  storm,  showered  Charnacd 
with  its  mingled  twigs  and  snow,  and  the  main 
stem  lay  athwart  his  path.  Folding  his  birch  manu- 
script, he  quickened  his  steps  toward  the  frozen  river, 
following  the  blood  stains  in  the  snow. 

"  Be  still,  my  heart,"  he  cried  aloud,  "  Is  not  God 
thy  Father  ?  Is  not  the  Church  thy  mother  ?  Is  not 
Jesus  the  bridegroom  of  thy  soul?  Yes,  in  the  fu- 
ture world,  —  not  now." 

Then  he  paused  in  the  path  made  by  the  deer 
through  the  deep  snow,  —  planting  his  snow  shoes 
over  the  bright  blood  stains. 

liaising  his  eyes  toward  heaven,  he  said,  in  a  rev- 
erent voice,  — "  What  God  hath  joined  together,  let 
no  man  put  asunder. 

11 


r- 


162 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


I  li  I 


I!! 


"  Not  even  my  sweet  spirited  and  honored  teacher 
Palladio,"  he  added  in  a  low  tone,  looking  toward 
the  west,  and  the  strange  colors  in  the  sky  gleam- 
ing through  the  forest.  "No,  he  had  no  right  to 
separate  our  hearts  by  his  instruments  of  sharp 
casuistry. 

"  And  La  Tour  had  not  the  right  he  would  have 
had,  if  he  had  been  more  manly.  No,  La  Tour  has 
no  right,"  —  he  said  in  bitterness. 

The  tops  of  the  pines  were  beginning  to  sway  this 
way  and  that,  in  the  rising  wind.  Like  a  pendulum, 
swinging  first  this  way  then  that,  moved  the  he^rt 
of  Chai^nacd,  under  the  strong  passions  which  agitated 
him. 

"No,  I  will  not  traverse  more  wilderness  to  the 
westward.  My  star  is  in  the  east.  I  am  released 
from  my  vows,  but  my  word  is  outstanding,  —  or 
at  least  a  moral  obligation,  a  tacit  pledge,  that  I  will 
obey  my  Superior.  He  looks  upon  me  as  a  part  of 
his  system  in  Acadia.  He  does  not  look  to  find  me 
upon  the  Pacific.  He  ought  to  be  able  to  depend 
upon  his  machinery  to  work  his  will  with  precision. 
If  his  will  is  at  fault,  let  him  look  to  it.  But  I  be- 
lieve that  he  will  not  clash  with  God.  The  divine 
Providence  permits  the  sparrows  to  fall,  and  La  Tour 
may  fall." 

There  was  a  grim  satisfaction  in  his  face,  when  he 
said  that.  It  was  not  a  cast-iron  face  which  Char- 
nac^  wore  when  he  was  envious,  angry,  or  in  his 
worst  moods.      It  was,  rather,  a  wrought-iron  face. 


CHARNAC:^  AND  HIS  SNOW  SHOES.       163 


heated  and  hammered,  then  cooled  and  hardened.  Or 
perhaps,  then,  his  face  was  not  lacking  in  suggestions 
of  ice ;  as  if  chiselled  out  of  it,  smooth,  polished,  hard, 
cold.  Whether  ice  or  iron  were  in  his  face,  it  was 
plain  that  his  thoughts  toward  La  Tour  were  some- 
thing deeper  and  more  malignant  than  one  who  was 
merel}''  a  fur  trader  could  have  toward  another  trader, 
with  so  wide  a  world  of  skins  on  foot  everywhere 
upon  the  vast  continent. 

Then  his  heart  broke  again,  like  the  heavily  laden 
boughs  of  pine  and  snow  snapping  now  so  frequently 
by  the  icy  frost  fingers  and  the  cold  breathing  out  of 
the  North.  Then  his  face  of  ice  or  iron  melted,  and 
hot  tears  flowed ;  and  he  sighed,  as  if  moved  by  some 
great  sorrow  which  now  weighed  more  heavily  upon 
him  in  his  ripened  years  than  it  could  have  done  in 
his  earlier  life. 

Charnac^  was  of  that  full  agje  when  Alexander 
mastered  the  world,  and  when  the  French  Calvin 
wrought  his  miracle  of  reformation.  Was  he  not  in 
the  maturity  of  his  judgmenr,  and  of  his  powers  ?  ±  f, 
the  very  sensitiveness  of  his  nature,  that  ability 
enter  delicately  into  the  feelings  of  others,  so  essential 
to  mastering  their  wills,  that  lieart  of  his,  throbbing 
now  so  wildly,  was  the  very  ground  of  his  weak- 
ness —  if  weakness  it  was  —  as  well  as  his  strength. 
Was  it  not  said  by  rumor,  that  even  Kichelieu  was 
not  without  love  ?  Some  of  the  most  eminent  in  the 
Church  were  not  without  human  friends.  The  pure 
friendships  of  godly  ecclesiastics  open  the  brightest 


r 


164 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


pages  in  the  gloomy  book  of  the  dark  ages.  Why 
then  should  Charnacd  seclude  himself  upon  this 
desolate  shore,  keeping  company  with  wolves  and 
wild  men  ?  So  he  reasoned  with  himself,  as  he  has- 
tened along  the  deer  path.  He  longed  for  a  presence. 
Had  anything  been  left  out  of  his  education  ?  Was 
there  no  spiritual  rest  ?  His  mind  was  not  lacking 
in  appreciation  of  natural  beauty,  but  he  longed  to 
people  the  world  with  spiritual  forms. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  Charnacd  had  a  tinge  of 
melancholy  in  his  temperament.  Upon  the  other 
hand  he  was  not  only  cheerful,  but  of  wholesome 
hearty  faith  in  God,  and  man,  and  in  himself.  But 
his  early  discipline  had  led  him  to  entertain  sober 
views  of  life  rather  than  gay,  and  he  was  thoughtful 
rather  than  heedless.  And  a  great  impression  had 
been  made  upon  his  mind  by  the  fact,  that  the 
heights  of  the  Church,  as  seen  by  him,  were  less 
heavenly  than  he  had  been  led  to  look  for.  His 
apparent  success  was  of  less  value,  from  having  been 
conferred  by  unworthy  men  upon  a  person  having 
less  merit  than  he  had  hoped  to  store  up  in  his  heart 
when  he  should  enter  upon  life's  duties.  The  world 
he  stepped  upon  had  an  empty  heartless  sound. 

He  decided  to  take  the  middle  course,  to  obey  his 
Superior,  to  fulfil  the  expectations  of  the  Associates, 
and  to  satisfy  the  passion  in  his  heart,  by  going  for- 
ward with  the  preparations  to  att3'?k  Fort  La  Tour. 
Then,  after  that,  he  would  act  as  circumstances  might 
arise.     If  La  Tour  should  be  held,  and  accused  of 


CHARNACi  AND  HIS  SNOW  SHOES.       165 


treason  for  fortifying  with  the  intent  to  betray  his 
King,  —  if  treason  could  be  proved  against  him  as  it 
easily  might  be,  —  then  Charnacd  might  abandon 
the  Jesuits  after  having  discharged  himself  of  the 
commands  already  given  him,  and  refuse  to  be 
directed  further.  In  this  even,  with  the  passage  of 
years,  even  if  he  should  never  marry,  there  might  be 
hours  of  lioly  converse  with  Constance  in  the  Acadian 
wild  country;  and  with  her  he  could  lead  the  pagans 
into  higher  paths  of  life.  If  this  was  not  the  light  he 
sought,  it  was  the  only  light  he  saw,  —  in  the 
gathering  twilight. 

Charnacd  was  cold,  and  chilled  through,  by  his 
slow-moving,  doubting,  hesitating  steps.  He  there- 
fore abandoned  the  trail,  and  advanced  as  rapidly 
as  possible  by  a  short  cut  to  the  easier  walking  on 
the  river.  "This  heavy  carpet  of  snow  and  thick 
ice,"  he  said  to  himself,  "leave  the  fishes  in  the 
dark  for  months  together.  How  glad  they  will  be 
to  see  the  sun." 

He  now  remembered  that  his  devotions  had  been 
long  disLuibed  by  conflicting  thoughts."  Had  not  this 
Jeinsek  business  affected  his  religious  peace  ?  As  he 
had  come  at  this  moment  where  he  could  see  the 
Cross  against  the  evening  sky,  rising  high  above  the 
fort,  he  crossed  himself,  and  bowed  his  head:-  - 

*'i  cry  unto  thee,  t'-ou  pitying  Mary,  to  intercede 
for  me,  that  I  may  be  guided  in  the  right  .'  rij.  May 
the  anguish  of  my  heart  Lc  net  by  the  sensfi  of  thy 
love,  and  the  love  of  thy  dear  Son.    And  iielp  me  to 


:'t?8»j 


aW 


St     it 


i:     d 


■■:! 


166 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


do  the  duty  of  to-day,  by  tlie  power  given  thee  by  thy 
Son  to  pity  tlif  needy,  and  to  guide  those  who  are  out 
of  tlie  riglit.  vn\y. 

"  i.ord  Jesu.  pity  me,  ii  y.  venture  to  pray  to  Tliee. 
Judge  of  the  worhl,  be  not  angry  with  nie,  that  I 
know  80  little  the  path  i  opght  to  follow.  I  wish  to 
be  ol)3dieiifc.  And  sinre  Thou  hast  given  the  keys  of 
earth  and  heaven  ^  the  head  of  Thy  church  upon  the 
earth,  deign  Th)U  to  help  me,  as  I  obey  the  Superior 
whom  Thou  has  set  over  me,  who  is  to  me  in  Thy 
stead.  I  do  it  with  willing  heart.  Let  my  sacrifice 
of  my  own  will  and  judgment  be  acceptable  unto 
Thee." 


THE  BLOCKADE. 


167 


3  by  thy 
I  are  out 


to  Tliee. 
,  that  I 

wish  to 
!  keys  of 
ipon  the 
Superior 

in  Thy 

sacrifice 

ble  uuto 


XX. 


THE  BLOCKADE. 

WHEN  Charnacd  began  to  lay  aside  the  strictly 
ecclesiastical  character  in  which  he  first 
appeared  at  Cape  Sable,  and  assume  his  true  office 
of  a  Lieutenant  General  in  Acadia,  he  began  to  lay 
aside  the  habit  of  a  Jesuit  scholar,  and  attire  himself 
according  to  the  fashion  of  the  age,  —  sobered  some- 
what by  the  deep  shadows  of  the  Acadian  wilderness 
and  tlie  sober  sea.  When  now,  at  the  end  of  the  lag- 
ging spring,  he  headed  the  expedition  to  reduce  Fort 
La  Tour,  he  did  not  fail  to  accoutre  himself  as  a  cava- 
lier in  full  dress  for  war.  It  would  give  more  heart  to 
his  soldiers ;  and  it  might  be  more  pleasing  to  Con- 
stance, if  they  should  meet,  as  they  undoubtedly 
would  before  midsummer,  and  most  likely  within  the 
month. 

L^n conscious  of  any  logical  process,  he  found  him- 
self comparing  his  sky  blue  and  purple  and  cardinal 
colors  with  the  clothing  of  Eaphael's  angels,  as  he 
had  seen  them  before  he  came  to  Acadia  where 
angels  were  scarce.  He  wondered  what  colors  were 
made  radiant  by  being  worn  by  the  Guardian  Angel 
of  Constance ;  and  whether  she  was  as  cognizant  of 


168 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


his  presence,  as  she  claimed  to  be  when  she  was  a 
very  little  child.  He  remembered  that  she  said  little 
in  her  more  mature  years  about  him  who  had  been 
appointed  to  minister  unto  her;  but  that  she  still 
believed  in  the  presence  of  her  Celestial  Guide  was 
certain,  since  she  had  alluded  to  it  upon  the  last 
evening  they  spent  together  at  her  father's  house. 

When  he,  —  as  a  confirmed  Eomauist  devoted  to 
to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  —  had  threatened  to  take 
orders  mless  she  would  marry  him,  did  she  not  reply, 
gazing  fixedly  at  the  walls  of  ruby  and  the  battle- 
ments of  Paradise  glowing  in  the  fire  on  the  hearth, 
that  she  would  then  have  no  earthly  companion  save 
her  Guardian  Angel,  and  that  he  would  be  more  to 
her  thenceforth,  and  that  he  would  direct  her  feet  to 
the  heavenly  Bridegroom  ? 

And  Charnac^,  in  all  his  battle  attire,  could  hardly 
see  his  own  form  in  his  mirror,  from  the  mists  which 
gathered  in  his  eyes.  It  must  be,  he  thought,  that 
Constance  stot.d  little  in  need  of  earthly  loves.  And, 
while  he  had  no  fear  of  La  Tour  and  his  fate  in  the 
outcome  of  the  present  expedition,  he  could  not  but 
ask  himself  whether  there  might  not  be  legions  of 
angels  fighting  for  Constance. 

Then  it  occurred  to  him,  to  set  his  own  spiritual 
attire  in  such  order,  that  no  good  angels  could  find 
it  in  their  hearts  to  contend  against  him.  And  he 
gave  his  hours  to  devotion,  until  Roland  Capon,  his 
secretary,  called  him  to  embark. 

Adverse  winds   were   welcome  to  Charnac^,  his 


0^ 


THE  BLOCKADE. 


169 


hesitating  purpose  leading  him  to  tack  this  way  and 
that  in  reaching  the  St.  John.  He  went  all  over 
again  the  familiar  stoiy  of  the  rise  of  Eichelieu,  as 
Bishop,  as  Cardinal,  and  as  the  official  head  of  three 
principal  monastic  orders.  It  was  not  becoming  in 
Charnacd  to  presume  to  judge,  to  be  too  nice.  It  was 
well  known,  that  it  often  happened,  that  Richelieu's 
private  plans  were  well  concealed  under  schemes  for 
the  public  good ;  and  why  might  it  not  be  so  in  this 
case  —  Charnac^  advancing  against  his  rival.  He 
would  not  be  too  scrupulous. 

It  was  surely  an  accusation  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Holy  Church,  emanating  from  the  great  adversary, 
that  he  himself,  in  obeying  his  Superior,  was  willing 
to  do  evil  that  good  might  come.  Is  not  all  evil  in  the 
motive  ?  The  moti',  good,  —  the  greater  glory  of 
God.  Does  not  this  holy  end  make  holy  the  means 
needful  to  reach  that  end  ?  The  life,  or  at  lea;  t  the 
liberty,  or  at  least  the  carnal  prosperity  of  L?.  i^r 
muit  be  sacrificed  —  for  the  good  of  the  Church,  the 
State,  the  holy  Hundred  Associates  who  were  to  plant 
Catholic  colonies,  and,  also,  for  the  spiritual  good  of 
La  Tour  himself 

Charnacd  was  giad  at  last  when  the  wind  changed. 
Perhaps  the  Guardian  Angel  of  Constance  was  more 
favorable.  Never  as  upon  that  beautiful  morning,  the 
first  of  June,  when  he  sighted  Partridge  Island,  did 
the  beautiful  system  of  Loyola  seem  so  fair  to  Charnacd, 
so  artistic,  so  finely  fitted  to  the  needs  of  the  world. 
What,  indeed,  could  be  more  wonderful  than  that  the 


dk  -'i^-^ 


'I^f- 


■•*<      JI 


■ 


J\ 


l, « 


St 


170 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


solitary  Spauisli  soldier,  demanding  obedience  wher- 
ever man  might  be  and  in  whatever  he  miglit  be 
engaged,  should  find  those;  who  would  surrender  con- 
science itself  to  a  Superior,  and  confess  it  as  a  sin  if 
they  merely  questioned  the  rectitude  of  his  mandate, 
liow  happy  was  the  condition  of  Charnacd,  if  in  this 
case  the  mandate  might  coincide  with  his  own  wishes. 
And  how  evident  would  be  ihe  blessing  of  God  upon 
his  own  obedience  if,  as  the  outcome  of  this  war,  the 
Guardian  Angel  of  Constance  should  smile  upon 
him. 

As  the  ships  were  assuming  their  positions, 
and  coming  to  anchor,  Charnacd  confessed  to  his 
priest  Fra  Cup'vvo,  and  recr^ved  tlie  sacrament.  The 
holy  father  well  knew  the  nontal  agit  tiun  of  his 
illustrious  penitent ;  and  aftci  the  administration  of 
the  holy  wafer,  he  placed  in  the  mds  of  Charnacd  a 
copy  of  Loyola's  Letter  on  Obedience,  —  r)pened  to  the 
passage:  —  "Fix  it  in  your  mind  that  hatever  the 
Superior  commands,  is  the  order  and  will  of  God 
himself." 

The  prosaic,  practical,  prayerless,  imperturbable  La 
Tom  was  not  engaged  in  questions  of  casuistry  upon 
the  first  morning  in  June.  He  had  just  shipped  his 
furs  to  France ;  and  he  was  pitching  out  cod  fish  with 
a  fork  from  the  smack  Dora,  A\hen  the  alarm  was 
given  that  Charnacd  had  appeared  in  the  offing.  Char- 
nacd, if  he  should  happen  to  take  the  fort,  would  find 
little  in  it  for  spoils,  except  scrod  and  salt  fish.  His 
spies  had  kept  General  La  Tour  well  informed  what 


THE  BLOCKADE. 


171 


to  expect ;  but  he  had  seen  no  reason  why  there 
would  not  be  the  usual  run  of  fish  in  May,  and  they 
midit  run  on  in  Juno. 

The  stolid  fisherman  La  Tour  was  not  lacking  in 
system ;  in  fisliing  time  he  fished,  in  pelt  time  he 
was  after  everytliin^i,'  that  wore  a  hairy  hide,  and 
when  diplomacy  was  in  order  he  plied  his  arts ;  and 
he  prepared  for  war  by  attending  to  his  business  as 
usual  until  the  conflict  came. 

A  great  variety  of  edible  fish  came  to  the  stake- 
nets  upon  the  Hats  below  the  fort,  sometimes  break- 
ing the  nets  by  their  weight.  Ale  wives  and  herring, 
tlie  sea-shad  in  its  season,  pike,  turbot,  and  salmon ; 
congers,  lampreys,  the  valued  gold  fish,  the  mullet, 
the  merle,  and  the  wawwunnekeseag;  bass ;  white  por- 
poises as  big  as  oxen ;  ^  the  sturgeon  or  armor  fish ; 
and,  by  deep  sea  hauling,  the  halibut,  —  were  among 
the  fish  brought  to  the  Castle  La  Tour. 

It  was  commonly  reputed  among  the  Romanists  in 
Acadia,  tliat  the  Massachusetts  Bay  people  worship- 
ped a  cod  fish,  which  had  been  suspended  over  the 
pulpit  in  their  meeting-house  at  Boston,  which  was 
used  for  the  Great  and  General  Couit ;  the  fish  skin 
stuffed  having  been  presented  to  the  colony  by  Gov- 
ernor Wintlu'op,  after  its  contents  had  been  served 
up  in  chowder  upon  the  occasion  of  his  first  inaugu- 
ration as  Governor.  La  Tour  therefore  looked  to  the 
Bostonians  for  sympathy  and  practical  aid  against 
Charuac^ ;  M.  Eochet,  sending  to  them  to  establish 

1  La  Honton,  I.  244. 


r 


172 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


free  trade  and  a  military  alliance.  The  Bay  people 
took  the  trade,  it  boing  free;  but  declined  to  aid, — 
tliat  being  thought  too  risky.^ 

M.  Ilochet  was,  however,  more  successful  in  France, 
in  procuring  soldiers  and  colonists  with  capital.  "He 
caused  it  to  bo  published  in  La  Rochelle,  that  he 
offered  to  all  those  who  would  choose  the  climate  of 
Acadia  as  their  home,  lauds  and  fields  of  great  fer- 
tility, which  hud  been  conceded  to  La  Tour,  abounding 
in  all  sorts  of  birds  and  hunter's  game."  ^ 

He  enlisted,  as  colonists  for  the  Acadian  planta- 
tions, for  tlie  accumulation  of  furs,  for  the  fisheries, 
and  for  the  garrison,  the  trained  soldiery  of  La  Ro- 
chelle and  Aunis ;  and  not  a  few  of  the  fierce  fight- 
ing water-dogs  from  Ars,  La  Flotte,  and  St.  Martin 
upon  the  low  sandy  lagoons  and  marshes  of  Ed. 
And  he  secured  a  little  handful  of  hired  soldiers  out 
of  Savoy,  —  from  the  Val  Pragela,  and  from  Pra  du 
Tour,  some  of  them  schoolmates  of  Charles  la  Tour. 
And  he  brought  to  the  St.  John  a  few  enterprising 
colonists  who  had  been  driven  away  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  by  the  Jesuits. 

So  were  all  things  made  ready  for  dispelling  the 
dream  of  a  golden  age  in  Acadia ;  and  the  rivals  met 
to  fight  for  the  possession  of  the  country  and  the 
Queen  of  Acadia ;  setting  aside  sentimentality,  much 
as  the  two   Shoalers  did  in   1625,  who  agreed  to 


91. 


1  Consult  Hubbard's  History,  pp.  478,  479  ;  and  Winthrop,  II. 

2  Riimeau,  p,  72. 


THE  BLOCKADE. 


173 


"lieave  the  law  oue  side"  till  they  should  get 
through  fi','hting. 

Cliarnacd  had  indeed  laid  his  plans  with  care.  Ho 
came  at  the  time  of  year  when  the  larder  was  lowest, 
and  the  garrison  smallest,  and  helpers  most  widely 
scattered ;  and  he  came  in  superior  force.  His  two 
ships  and  a  galliot  blocked  the  ship  channel  between 
Partridge  Island  upon  the  southwest  and  Bruyeres 
Point ;  and  a  pinnace  lay  upon  the  northeast  of  the 
island.  A  portion  of  his  five  hundred  men  were  set 
to  such  service  as  seemed  likely  to  forward  his  enter- 
prise upon  the  land.  Spies,  as  soldiers  for  the  service 
of  La  Tour,  had  been  already  sent  into  the  fort  itself 
some  months  since,  who  should  by  timely  desertion 
keep  Charnacd  informed  of  the  state  of  the  garrison, 
and  betray  tlie  fort  if  opportunity  might  offer. 

With  his  ships  out  of  range  of  the  fort's  artillery, 
and  with  force  enough  to  command  the  surrounding 
country,  Cliarnac^  took  the  cue  from  his  king  at  the 
siege  of  La  Eochelle,  and  proposed  to  cut  off  all 
supplies  by  sea  or  land.  And  so  effective  were  the 
measures  he  took  at  the  outset,  that  capitulation  was 
only  a  question  of  time. 

La  Tour  was  not  slow  to  see  this.  Jean  Pitchibat 
and  Joe  Takouchin  silently  slipped  out  of  the  fort, 
and  stole  down  to  the  headlands  southwest,  to  inter- 
cept the  armed  ship  Clement,  which  was  overdue  from 
La  Eochelle  with  a  cargo  of  supplies,  and  a  long  list 
of  soldiers  and  colonists.  The  Clement  was  signalled 
within  a  day  or  two,  after  the  siege  had  begun  in 
earnest  by  the  close  guarding  of  all  points  of  ingress 


w 


I 


I 


174 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


aucl  egress.  Joe  and  Jean  found  their  way  on  board ; 
and  M.  Rochet  kept  his  ship  away  from  Charnacd's  guns. 

Tlie  besieger  was  not  strong  enough  to  cope  with 
a  new  foe ;  and  he  had  no  more  resources  this  side 
of  old  France.  He  could  not  break  hio  line  to  attack 
the  Clement,  without  giving  La  Tour  the  chance  to 
join  forces;  and  the  Ilochelle  guns  floating  outside 
were  ready  to  open  upon  him  if  he  were  to  change 
position. 

Charles  la  Tour  was  not  the  man  to  sit  down  delib- 
erately and  starve  to  death  rather  than  capitulate ;  or 
live  long  upon  dry  codfish.  Upon  the  first  dark 
night  after  tlie  Clement  arrived,  Constance  stepped 
into  the  bow  of  a  birch  canoe,  and  her  husband  sat 
in  the  stern  to  steer ;  and,  without  a  paddle  stroke, 
they  shot  upon  the  swift  ebbing  tide  between  the 
pines  of  the  Carletou  shore  and  the  cliffs  of  Partridge 
Island,  under  the  very  guns  of  the  beleaguering  ships. 

Constance  at  the  look  out,  when  they  floated  past 
Charnac^,  heard  his  singularly  musical  and  pene- 
trating voice  in  the  darkness,  for  the  first  time  since 
she  had  heard  it  in  love  accents  in  her  old  home  :  — 
"  The  spy,  who  came  down  last  night,  says,  that  his 
comrades  will  send  down  La  Tour  in  shackles  at 
midnight." 

When  they  were  beyond  hearing,  and  could  ply 
their  paddles,  General  La  Tour  laughed  merrily, — and 
the  louder  since  the  conspirators  had  been  already 
ironed  and  placed  in  the  dungeon. 

They  soon  reached  the  relief-ship ;  and,  before 
dawn,  were  out  of  sight  upon  the  high  seas. 


GOVERNOR  WINTHROP'S   GARDEN.        175 


XXI. 
GOVERNOR  WINTHROP'S   GARDEN. 

THE  founder  of  Boston  cultivated,  upon  the  mar- 
gins of  his  island,  sow-bugs  for  medical  pre- 
scriptions. To  the  regret  of  a  much  quoted  traveller, 
and  tlie  chagrin  of  the  medical  profession,  the  Gov- 
ernor could  not  acclimate  any  of  "  tliat  sort  that  are 
blew  and  turn  round  as  a  pea  when  they  are  touched." 

It  is  to  be  said  to  the  credit  of  Governor  Winthrop, 
that  he  ripped  up  the  bashes  and  grubbed  his  garden- 
ground  with  his  own  hands.  Many  of  good  birth,  ac- 
cording to  tlie  "Wonder  Working  Providence,"  who 
had  been  gently  bred  in  Old  England,  and  who  had 
scarce  ever  set  hand  to  labor  before,  did  the  same ; 
and  until  corn  and  cattle  and  beans  were  plenty,  the 
Bostonians  did  not  despise  pumpkins.^ 

Upon  the  afternoon  of  the  twelfth  of  June,  the 
very  day  of  the  year  in  which  the  Arbella  entered 
Salem  harbor,  Governor  Winthrop  was  weeding  his 
turnips  down  the  harbor,  upon  the  seventy  acre  plat 
now  occupied  by  Eort  Winthrop.    He  would  prob- 

^  "Let  no  man  make  a  jest  of  pumpkins  ;  for  with  this  fruit 
the  Lord  was  pleased  to  feed  his  people  to  their  good  content."  — 
Johnson's  Wonder  Working  Providence,  p.  56. 


v-. 


'i^_ 


ill        If 

1 1  ill) 


.d . 

'I  I 


176 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


ably  be  compelled  to  visit  several  agricultural  fairs 
in  the  autumn,  and  he  was  giving  strict  attention  to 
business;  his  carrots  and  cabbages  might  take  the 
premium. 

Hearing  the  measured  splash  of  oars,  he  looked  up, 
and  saw  his  neighbor  Mistress  Gibones  and  her  chil- 
dren approaching  the  boat  landing  as  fast  as  strong 
oars  and  swift  boatmen  could  bring  her.  She  was 
being  chased  by  General  La  Tour  and  liis  wife. 

The  Clement,^  with  her  decks  crowded  with  sol- 
diers grinning  to  see  the  sport,  was  within  easy  range 
of  the  Governor,  so  that  he  rej^ressed  his  first  impulse 
to  n:n  to  tlie  landing  and  scotch  the  French  invad  'r 
with  his  hoe. 

With  nimble  wit  he  decided  upon  the  instant  that 
the  enemy  had  taken  possession  of  the  Castle,  below'; 
knowing  that  the  solitaiy  keeper  of  that  fortification 
had  left  all  his  guns  and  munitions,  —  as  he  had  no- 
ticed him  an  hour  since  spading  for  quabaugs  just 
east  of  the  garden.  He  was  therefore  prudent  by 
instinct,  —  the  more  willingly  so,  since  he  saw  that 
the  grass  widow  —  whose  husband  liad  gone  to  the 
Sagamore  of  the  Massachusetts  upon  business  for  the 
colony  —  was  gaining  upon  the  foe  in  her  escape. 

It  is  at  this  point  a  relief  to  read,  in  the  most  sat- 
isfactory of  the  books  about  Boston,  that  "  La  Tour 
met  Governor  Winthrop  very  cordially"  upon  his 
own  island.^     The  complacency  of  the   Lieutenant 

1  Hubbard's  New  England,  p.  479. 

2  It  was  not  until  some  years  after,  when  he  was  the  guest  of 


GOVERNOR   WINTHROP'S   GARDEN. 


177 


Governor  of  Acadia,  so  far  from  suffering  by  his 
enforced  canoe  voyage,  had  become  more  emphatic 
as  he  approached  the  first  families  of  Boston,  being 
all  first  —  fresh  from  the  old  home  —  in  those  days. 
The  self  contained  Acadian  undoubtedly  "  welcomed  " 
Winthrop,  who  stood  in  a  meek  attitude,  hardly 
knowing  whether  or  not  General  La  Tour  intended 
to  capture  him  and  his  family  and  the  fair  Mrs. 
Gibones,  and  sail  away ;  having  first  provisioned  and 
manned  the  castle,  against  his  return  to  bombard 
Boston. 

When,  however,  M.  Eochet,  who  landed  with  La 
Tour,  proved  to  be  an  old-time  guest  of  Mrs.  Edward 
Gibones,  explanations  soon  followed, — and  they  all 
went  into  the  Governor's  summer  house,  —  which 
had  just  been  completed,^  where  he  escaped  the 
heated  "  city,"  —  and  partook  of  Mrs.  Winthrop's 
pumpkin  pie  and  potatoes. 

Madam  Winthrop  had  just  returned  from  a  trip  to 
England,  and  was  unwrapping  the  parcels  she  had 
brought.  Coming  upon  the  tobacco  her  husband 
had  written  for,  their  accommodating  free-and-easy 
guest  was  urged  by  the  hospitable  Governor,  —  who 
diminislied  his  estate  not  a  little  in  giving  to  the 
needy,  —  to  try  a  hand. 

Maverick  at  Noddle's  island,  being  temporarily  at  a  lower  ebb  than 
common  in  his  fortunes,  that  the  Bay  people  remarked  the  fact  that 
La  Tour  uniformly  took  off  his  hat  when  he  spoke  of  himself. 

^  It  stood  upon  the  high  ground  on  the  west  of  the  island,  near 
the  block  house. 

12 


178 


CONSTANCE  OF  AC  ALIA. 


i:  I 


The  Governor  apologized  for  the  lack  of  wine,  stat- 
ing that  his  rent  to  the  colony  for  the  use  of  the 
island  had  been  paid  in  the  juice  of  the  grape,  one 
hogshead,  from  his  first  vintage ;  the  season  coming 
he  could  pay  in  pippins,  two  bushels,  —  and  then 
his  wine  pipe  would  be  on  tap  for  his  friends  from 
Acad  1,1. 

To'.vard  evening,  they  saw  three  shallops  of  armed 
men  sweeping  down  from  Boston  to  prevent  La  Tour 
from  kidnapping  their  Governor. 

Doctor  Cotton,  from  his  study  window,  upon  what 
was  afterwards  called  Cotton  Hill,  now  Pemberton 
Square,^  had  seen  the  armed  stranger  salute  the 
Castle,  without  awakening  the  appropriate  echo. 
Knowing  that  a  part  of  the  work  had  tumbled 
down,  and  that  the  guns  might  be  stolen ;  that  the 
two  mercliant  ships  in  the  harbor  could  offer  no  op- 
position; that  the  town  itself  might  be  taken,  it  be- 
ing a  time  of  pirates,  and  of  frequent  outbreaking 
wars, — he  hurried  down  the  foot  path  to  give  the 
alar^'i.  Happv^ning  to  meet  Deputy  Governor  Dud- 
ley, who  was  posing  in  a  statuesque  attitude,  at 
about  tlie  spot  where  the  statue  of  Governor  Win- 
throp  now  stands  in  Scollay  Square,  the  Deputy  at 
once  took  fire.  It  had  been  his  hobby  to  build  Bos- 
ton at  Newtown,''^  a  place  with  room  enough  to  fortify, 
and  less  exposed  to  strange  ships ;  and  he  had  fiercely 

1  His  house  was  at  the  south  end  of  the  Square,  at  au  altitude 
eighty  feet  above  the  present  pavement. 
'-*  Cambridge. 


GOVERNOR   WINTHROP'S   GARDEN.        179 


quarrelled  with  Winthrop,  who  saw  the  superior  ad- 
vantageo  of  the  Shawmut  peninsula  for  a  seaport. 

The  Deputy,  who  —  if  he  had  stood  still  in  his 
tracks  where  the  Doctor  met  him,  —  would  have 
looked  better  tlian  the  Winthrop  monument,  did  not 
pause  to  think  of  an  admiring  posterity;  he  was 
alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  chief  magistrate,  for 
whom  he  had  a  peculiar  affection.  He  knew  the 
Governor  was  out  of  town,  caring  for  cucambers 
instead  of  tlie  common  weal ;  it  was  on  this  account 
that  he  had  ridden  in  from  his  country  seat  in  Dor- 
chester ;  and  he  had  spent  the  entire  morning  in 
attiturHnizing  first  on  this  corner  then  on  that,  pick- 
ing out  a  place  for  his  statue,  ana  nudging  the 
neighbors  to  make  good  the  affairs  of  State  so  sadly 
neglected  by  their  agricultural  Governor. 

AVhen  Dr.  Cotton  pointed  out  to  him  the  French 
ship,  which  was  apparently  of  a  hundred  and  forty  or 
fifty  tons,  lying  to,  opposite  the  Governor's  garden, 
Dudley  answered,  —  "I  will  at  once  assume  the  en- 
tire charge  of  the  State ;  the  Governor  is  undoubtedly 
in  irons  by  this  time ;  and  he  will  be  whisked  out 
to  sea  before  we  know  it.  He  would  make  an  ex- 
cellent plantation  hand  at  the  Barbadoes.  —  Did  you 
say  that  the  Castle  did  not  return  the  pirate's  salute  ? 
His  excellency  will,  hereafter,  I  trust,  look  to  the  for- 
tifications, —  if  he  escapes  now.  What  ho  !  What  ho  I " 

Seeing  Constable  Jeramy  Houtchin,  leaning  against 
the  whipping  post^  waiting  for  business,  he  walked 

1  At  the  corner  of  State  iiiul  Devonshire. 


r 


180 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


m  '\ 


in  a  dignified  manner  to  meet  liim;  shouting  in 
measured  and  impressive  tones,  "  Wliat  ho ! "  much 
like  a  town  crier. 

The  alarm  was  given.  The  Constable  moved,  as 
rapidly  as  his  dignity  would  allow,  down  the  street 
to  Merchants'  Row,  which  was  then  the  water-front, 
and  turning  to  the  left,  entered  Cole's  tavern,  the 
Three  Mariners,  where  he  easily  secured  volunteers, 
of  whom  he  assumed  the  command ;  and  they 
marched  to  the  principal  landing,  where  the  Quincy 
Market  now  stands.  The  Deputy  Governor  gave  the 
Constable  particular  directions  and  lengthy,  what  to 
do  and  what  not  to  do,  whatever  had  happened  or 
had  not  happened,  and  whatever  might  occur  there- 
after, —  he  was  in  short  to  use  his  discretion ;  the 
State  had  perfect  confidence  in  the  Constable. 

The  pilot  boat,  Number  19,  which  spent  most  of 
her  time  in  cod  fishing  outside,  had  now  come  in. 
The  Clement  coming  up  in  a  fair  wind  had  taken  a 
pilot  out  of  19,  and  had  left  a  French  lubber  in  his 
stead  to  help  dress  the  fish  ;  this  Frenchman  was 
taken  in  hand  by  the  Constable,  to  serve  as  an  in- 
terpreter in  conversing  with  the  pirate.  The  Con- 
stable \/as  visibly  affected  when  he  bade  the  Deputy, 
or  Governor  as  he  had  called  him,  "  Good  by."  He 
bade  the  Deputy  cheer  up,  assuring  him,  that  he  dared 
do  all  that  might  become  a  man. 

When,  however,  the  three  shallops  ^.  armed  men 
learned  the  true  situation,  they  "welcomed"  the 
Lieutenant  Governor   of   Acadia,  very   *'  cordially ; " 


GOVERNOR   W1NTHR0F8   GARDEN. 


181 


and  told  him  that  they  were  glad  to  see  him ;  that 
they  had  come  down  for  the  express  purpose  of  es- 
corting him  up  to  their  hamlet,  —  called  the  "hub" 
from  its  solid  trimountain  rising  to  such  height  with 
a  rim  of  water  on  everyside,  —  where  he  would  be 
hospitably  entertained. 

General  La  Tour's  boat's  crew  having  been  long  on 
board  their  ship,  had  made  the  most  of  their  wander- 
ings over  the  island,  gathering  sorrel  to  flavor  their 
soups ;  and  having  made  friends  of  His  Excellency's 
Pequots,  they  had  obtained  a  few  onions.  Saint- 
Leger,  with  a  French  sailor's  hankering  for  frogs, 
had  the  misfortune  to  lift  the  cover  off  a  pot  of  gar- 
den toads  which  Kikatch  ought  to  have  been  baking 
to  a  powder,  but  was  not ;  so  that  the  victims  of  the 
pharmacopoeia  peculiar  to  the  island  escaped.  Ki- 
katch undertook  to  prevent  Saint-Leger  from  dump- 
ing his  sorrel  and  onions  into  the  boat.  But  the 
Governor  kindly  interfered,  having  accepted  the  offer 
of  his  guest  to  take  him  up  to  the  city  in  his  own 
boat.  The  dignity  of  the  State  was  maintained  — 
in  spite  of  the  vegetables  —  by  the  somewhat  excit- 
ing efforts  of  the  shallops  to  keep  within  hail  of  the 
Governor  without  running  him  down  or  leaving  him 
behind  altogether.  It  had  been  not  without  mis- 
givings, that  Jeremy  Houtehin  had  seen  his  Gov- 
ernor enter  the  same  boat  with  the  fierce  Acadian. 

Mistress  Gibones,  who  had  been  upon  her  way  to 
the  Major's  farm,  had  now  turned  back ;  and  she 
prepared  her  house  to  receive  the  charming  Madame 


182 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


La  Tour  and  the  General.  Her  home  was  situatf  1 
upon  what  is  now  the  east  side  of  Washington  Street, 
on  the  corner  opposite  the  foot  of  Cornhill.  The  head 
of  the  town  cove  came  up  to  tlie  point  now  occupied 
by  the  Samuel  Adams  statue;  the  cove  lines  extend- 
ing upon  the  one  side  along  North  street,  and  upon 
the  other  toward  Faneuil  Hall  and  around  Merchants' 
Kow  to  Kilby  street,  and  thence  to  Fort  Hill.  Ma- 
dame La  Tour's  canopy  bed  looked  upon  the  morning 
light  reflected  from  the  quiet  waters  of  the  harbor,  so 
beautiful  with  its  islands  and  green  marshes. 

When  the  Bostouians  learned  that  the  many  titled 
stranger,  the  feudal  lord  of  St.  John,  was  not  hostile 
(as  he  had  clearly  shown  by  his  voluntarily  placing 
himself  in  the  power  of  the  English),  and  that  he  was 
securely  housed  fronting  upon  Dock  square,  which 
even  then  had  innumerable  paths  leading  into  it  from 
every  quarter,  —  they  felt  easier. 

Dr.  Cotton  came  down  and  interviewed  the  Gen- 
eral and  hobnobbed  with  Madame,  and  pronounced 
theni  reasonably  sound  in  theology,  particularly  Ma- 
dame. So  Boston  made  its  best  bow,  and  the  French 
governor  and  his  wife  had  captured  the  city. 

Major  Edward  Gibones,  in  the  edge  of  the  even- 
ing, riding  in  from  that  arrow  shaped  hill  in  Quincy 
which  gave  its  name  to  Massachusetts,  had  been  re- 
flecting upon  what  good  times  he  used  to  have  when 
he  first  landed  at  the  Mount  with  jolly  Tom  Morton. 
He  stayed  at  Captain  John  Hawkins'  gate  at  Eock 
Hill  (now  Savin  Hill)  a  moment  to  drink  a  glass  of 


r 


GOVERNOR   WINTHROFS   GARDEN. 


183 


3  situatf  1 
on  Street, 
The  head 
J  occupied 
es  extend- 
aiid  upon 
kierchants' 
lill.  Ma- 
e  morning 
harbor,  so 
s. 

lany  titled 
not  hostile 
ily  placing 
iiat  he  was 
ire,  which 
ito  it  from 

I  the  Gen- 
Tonounced 
Lilarly  Ma- 
he  French 

the  even- 
in  Quincy 

II  been  re- 
lave  when 

m  Morton. 

e  at  Eock 
a  glass  of 


fresh  milk  from  the  sweet  pastures  of  Dorchester. 
With  that  rollicking  old  sea  dog,  ho  'd  had  many  a 
roaring  time,  particularly  in  those  days  when  they 
were  courtimr  their  wives  at  Mount  Wollaston. 

Then,  as  the  Major  rode  along  the  lonely  path  over 
Eoxbury  neck  in  the  tv^ilight,  —  hastening  a  little 
so  as  to  pass  the  barricade  gate  before  it  was  closed 
for  the  night,  —  lie  reflected  that  it  was  probably  bet- 
ter for  him,  now  that  he  was  no  longer  a  young  man, 
to  settle  down  and  enjoy  the  confidence  of  society  and 
hold  important  colonial  offices,  under  the  administra- 
tion of  him  whom  they  had  been  wont  lo  call  King 
Winthrop,  tlian  to  sigh  for  the  freedom  ot  the  days  of 
his  you1;h. 

Nevertheless,  when  he  entered  his  own  house,  and 
found  his  stoutish  handsome  wife  Margarett  with 
broader  face  than  usual,  and  an  amazing  heartiness 
in  her  smack  of  greeting,  which  sounded  like  the 
snap  of  loose  canvas  in  a  sudden  gust  —  calling  up 
as  it  did  his  days  of  sea-faring,  —  he  was  in  better 
condition  to  meet  General  La  Tour,  who  welcomed 
him  to  his  own  mansion  with  a  complacency  which 
was  certainly  a  favor.  The  Major  appreciated  it,  hav- 
ing slept  the  last  night  under  a  blanket  in  the  bush. 

As  happy  as  they  could  be  without  a  May-pole, 
w^as  tliis  little  party  at  the  Major's  that  evening.  The 
Governor  was  busy  with  cares  of  State,  and  he  thought 
it  best  for  the  Puritans  to  stay  in  the  house  after  nine 
o'clock,  so  that  the  party  at  the  foot  of  Coruhill  was 
unuistarbed  by  callers. 


184 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Madarr  •  '  ii  Tour  was  by  no  means  a  solemn  indi- 
vidual ;  and  the  Mujor  was  captivated.  Of  unquench- 
able vitality,  her  face  was  fairly  radiant  with  good 
humor.  It  was  not  alone  the  endless  outf:;ushing  of 
merriment  in  her  own  heart,  which  made  it  possible 
to  maintain  a  happy  home  with  her  husband  ;  but  she 
must  liave  been  attracted  to  him,  as  he  was  to  her, 
by  the  genial  possibilities  of  every  unfolding  hour. 
They  had  at  least  this  one  thing  in  common.  To 
tliis  happy  temperament  Constance  owed  no  small 
part  of  her  power  over  the  pagan  Souriquois  and 
Malechites.  To  this,  likewise.  La  Tour  owed  no 
small  part  of  his  power  in  persuading  men.  The 
jollity  of  Margarett  Gibones,  and  the  jovial  humor 
of  the  Major,  the  life  and  vivacity  of  Constance,  so 
filled  the  house  with  glee,  that  General  La  Tour 
found  it  very  easy  to  be  one  of  the  most  affable  and 
entertaining  guests  who  ever  tasted  Boston  brown 
bread  in  the  land  of  its  nativity. 

To  Constance  the  embryo  city  seemed  almost  op- 
pressively still,  so  accustomed  had  she  become  to  the 
loud  calling  —  high  and  holy  —  of  the  wants  of  her 
Indian  people,  or  the  urgent  voices  of  distressed  re- 
ligionists of  her  nation  and  faith,  or  the  mutteringg 
of  war  about  her  home.  It  was  with  a  sense  of  rest- 
fulness  and  gratitude  to  God,  that  she  sought  repose 
under  the  roof  of  a  town  so  hospitable.  And  in  her 
night  visions,  she  found  herself  praying  over  the  bed 
of  her  absent  child. 


CAPTAhV  HAWKINS. 


185 


XXII. 


CAPTAIN   HAWKINS. 


NEXT  morning  when  Major  Gibones  started  his 
cows  along  up  Washington  Street,  he  sauntered 
after  them  as  far  as  the  Governor's  house ;  which 
fLiced  south,  at  a  point  opposite  School  Street,  the 
01(1  South  meeting-house  being  afterwards  erected 
in  what  was  at  that  time  his  front  yard. 

The  Major  found  the  Governor  behind  tlie  house  at 
the  great  spring,  which  was  much  visited  by  the  chil- 
dren coming  down  the  unfenced  road  from  the  school 
house  upon  the  present  site  of  King's  Chapel ;  and 
the  children  from  the  waterside,  in  going  to  scliool, 
made  from  Water  Street  to  the  spring  a  cut-off,  since 
known  as  Spring  Lane. 

It  was  a  warm  morning,  and  Major  ^^libones  leaned 
against  one  of  the  great  button-woods,^  while  the 
cows  grazed  along  the  wayside ;  and  as  he  quaffed  of 
the  sweet  spring  water,  which  the  Governor  extended 
to  him  in  a  silver  cup,  he  replied  somewhat  bluntly 
to  the  question  of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  how  it  would 
do  to  fit  out  an  expedition  against  Charnac^,  —  "  The 
Lord  rebuke  Satan." 

1  Cut  down,  1775-6. 


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186 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


This  was  the  Puritan  way  of  swearing.  It  had  the 
same  effect  upon  the  Governor,  as  if  a  modern  politi- 
cian had  said,  —  "  Blank  Charnacd."  The  Major  had 
learned  it  at  Salem  ;  where  he  was  so  useful  to  Gov- 
ernor Endicott,  in  getting  the  colony  upon  its  land- 
legs  after  the  sea  voyage.  It  was  here  that  he  had 
sobered  down  somewhat,  as  he  needed  to  do  after  as- 
sociating so  long  with  the  roysterers  of  Merry  Mount ; 
and  here  he  took  to  himself  new  views  of  life,  and 
joined  the  church, — all  of  which  he  attributed  to  the 
happy  influences  of  the  good  people  of  Salem.  He 
was  still  allowed  this  one  oath  by  the  emphatic  Endi- 
cott, who  used  it  himself,  and  applied  it  to  Eev.  Mr. 
"Ward  and  Simon  Bradstreet  and  others,  who  wrote 
what  he  thought  to  be  an  impertinent  letter  to 
Governor  Winthrop  for  the  course  he  took  in  this 
same  La  Tour  business.^ 

Governor  Winthrop  had  spent  the  principal  part  of 
the  night  in  studying  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts  with 
his  pastor,  finding  precedents  and  precepts  pertinent, 
that  he  might  know  how  to  answer  La  Tour's  appli- 
cation for  aid.  He  now  wished  to  examine  Major 
Gibones,  who  served  as  a  sort  of  moral  thermometer 
for  Boston  in  those  days,  being  the  younger  son  of 

*  "I  finde  the  spirits  of  men  in  this  countrie  are  too  quick  and 
forward,"  MTote  Endicott.  The  trivial  use  of  the  name  of  the  Deity, 
and  the  abode  of  lost  spirits,  as  exhibited  in  the  correspondence  of 
the  principal  men  of  the  colony,  would  be  deemed  profane  by  the 
clergy  and  elders  of  to-day,  if  appearing  in  modem  political  letters. 
Consult  Hutchinson's  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Boston,  1769. 


I 


CAPTAIN  HAWKINS. 


187 


a  house  much  honored  in  the  old  home,  a  son  in 
himself  deserving  of  the  honors  heaped  upon  him  in 
after  time,  when  he  served  the  colony  as  Major 
General,  and  also  four  years  as  Lieutenant  Governor. 
The  Major's  pious  euphemism  decided  the  Governor. 

When  the  moral  thermometer  sauntered  along  after 
hi3  cows,  having  turned  them  into  the  herd  of  some 
seventy  head  feeding  with  Elder  Oliver's  horse  upon 
the  common  pasturage  south  of  Beacon  hill,  he  made 
his  way  slowly  toward  Roxbury  neck,  thinking  to  fall 
in  with  Captain  Tom  Hawkins,  whom  he  soon  met. 

"Good  morning,  shipmate,"  said  Gibones  in  memory 
of  their  early  voyages,  privateering  together  along  the 
Spanish  main. 

"  Hew  are  you,  my  hearty  ? "  replied  the  Captain, 
extending  his  big  red  muscular  right  hand.  "I 
thought  I'd  come  down  early,  and  see  what  that 
Frenchman  wants  in  our  Bay." 

"He  wants  to  hire  your  ships  and  mine,  well 
manned,  and  a  string-bean  company  of  volunteers 
to  go  with  Lieutenant  Israel  Fife,  to  fight  Charnacd. 
And  he  has  got  strong  boxes  in  hand  to  pay  cash 
down.  I  was  just  cruising,  thinking  I  should  meet 
you  on  this  tack,  near  the  barricade-bar." 

"  I  am  yours,  my  liearty,"  answered  Hawkins,  "  to 
rebuke  Satan,  as  they  say  in  Salem.  By  the  way, 
how  handy  it  is  for  us  that  Endicott  has  some 
gumption." 

"  Yes,  I  think  he  will  stand  by  us.  But  the  coun- 
try folks  generally  will  be  in  high  dudgeon  with  the 


.^j-mmma'vtmmmimmHmuu 


188 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Governor  if  he  lets  the  ships  go.  But  he  is  used  to 
it,  and  don't  mind  what  tliey  say  more  than  a  drake 
does  a  thunder  shower.  He  will  stand  by  us,  if  we 
stand  by  him.  "What  he  wants  is  to  be  remembered 
as  the  founder  of  Boston.  He  don't  care  anything 
about  Ipswich,  and  the  disgruntled  people  of  Salem, 
or  Mason's  Grant.  What  he  dotes  upon  is  to  build 
up  a  great  seaport  here  on  these  marshes.  I  heard 
him  talk  with  our  pastor  a  week  ago  about  how 
Providence  set  this  tri-mount  here  on  purpose  to 
be  dug  down  and  shovelled  into  the  shallows  to 
make  room  for  the  great  city  that  is  going  to  be 
built  here." 

"  True,"  said  Hawkins ;  "  he  vrill  some  day  have  a 
monument  down  front  of  your  house,  or  in  that  open 
patch  between  Cornhill  and  our  pastor's  house.  And 
he  will  deserve  it  too.  Only  think  of  his  enterprise 
in  building  the  first  barl       the  Bay."  ^ 

"  That  is  so ;  he  will  f^..>  down  to  posterity,  further 
than  you  and  I  will,  and  he  deserves  it.  He  is  long 
sighted  like,  you  may  call  it.  And  he  has  got  one 
idea,  that  you  have  got  to  have  if  you  ever  make 
a  small  city  into  a  great  one." 

"What  is  that?" 

"  He  asked  me  at  the  spring,  as  I  came  along,  if 
General  La  Tour  had  brought  along  any  money. with 
him.  He  believes  in  cash  in  hand,  if  you  are  ever 
going  to  do  business  and  build  up  a  city.     He  calls 

•  "The  Blessing  of  the  Bay,"  of  thirty  tons,  launched  on  the 
Mystic,  July  4, 1631. 


CAPTAIN  HAWKINS. 


189 


it  solid.  He  says  we  want  a  solid  Boston,  built  up 
on  hard  money  at  bottom." 

"  That  sounds  reasonable ;  it  has  a  good  ring  to  it. 
What  did  you  tell  him?" 

"  Monsieur  Rochet,  who  is  a  friend  of  the  Governor 
of  Acadia,  took  pains  to  tell  me  this  morning  while  I 
was  milking,  that  General  La  Tour  had  £5000  in 
strong  boxes  in  his  ship,  straight  from  the  merchants 
of  Rochelle,  in  return  for  furs  and  fish  he  had  exported. 
'And,*  says  the  Frenchman,  politely  smiling  at  me, 
with  a  sort  of  humorous  expression  about  his  eyes» 
'I  should  think,  Major,  that  you  could  make  more 
money  fighting  Charuac^  than  you  can  in  stripping 
these  cows.'  You  see  Margarett  had  shipped  my 
hands  down  the  harbor  to  the  farm." 

Captain  Hawkins,  here,  haw-hawed  so  loud,  that 
Constable  Houtchin  peeped  out  from  behind  the 
corner  of  the  meeting-house,  which  they  had  by  this 
time  reached,  — 

"  I  say,  you  Capting,  don't  laugh  so  like  thunder, 
or  you  '11  shake  the  steeple  off  the  meeting-house,  as 
the  airthquake  kind  of  onsettled  it." 

It  was  one  of  the  happy  humors  of  the  colonists 
to  speak  as  if  they  had  a  steeple ;  but  it  was  still 
so  near  the  time  when  they  had  worshipped  under 
a  shade  tree,  that  they  made  their  joke,  went  to 
meeting  by  the  drum-beat,  and  patiently  waited  for 
their  bell  tower. 


;hed  on  the 


/^U>«»«MW«1 


mm 


190 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


i<t 


vt 


XXIII. 


A  PURITAN   DEBATING  SOCIETY. 


"  I  ^HIS  duel  for  Acadia  created  an  intense  excite- 
-'■  ment  in  Massachusetts  Bay;  a  State  in  which 
exciting  events  were  then  so  rare,  that  the  Governor 
of  Massachusetts  sat  down  with  all  the  calmness 
he  could  command,  and  wrote  to  the  Governor  of 
Connecticut  that  two  calves  had  been  killed  by 
lightning. 

There  were  two  days  of  debate,  and  many  letters 
were  received  from  the  country.  The  arguments  for 
and  against  aiding  La  Tour  are  reported  with  more  or 
less  fulness  by  Winthrop,  Hubbard,  and  Hutchinson. 
Richard  Saltonstall,  Simon  Bradstreet  afterward  Gov- 
ernor, Nathaniel  Ward,  and  Ezekiel  Rogers,  led  tlie 
opposition,  presenting  their  points  in  writing.^  The 
presentation  for  La  Tour  was  made  by  prominent 
citizens  of  Boston,,  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Cotton 
and  the  Governor.  The  discussion  was  held  in  the 
meeting-house,   upon    the   site    where    the    Rogers 

*  Governor  Endicott,  who  thought  these  gentlemen  impertinent, 
ohjected  to  the  French  as  idolatrous ;  and  suspected  La  Tour  as  a 
sp7,  who  ought  not  to  s^e  the  defences  of  the  coast. 


A  PURITAN  DEBATING  SOCIETY, 


191 


Building  now  stands,  on  Washington  Street,  south  of 
Court. 

It  was  a  day  when  the  English  world  distrusted 
the  precedents  of  kings  like  Charles  and  James,  and 
fell  back,  not  on  Josiah  and  Hezekiah,  but  upon  what 
the  Lord  out  of  heaven  told  the  Hebrew  kings  to  do 
and  not  to  do.  They  had  learned  to  distrust  Rome 
as  a  religious  authority;  and,  for  lack  of  anybody 
known  to  be  more  competent,  they  had  taken  to 
interpreting  the  ancient  Scriptures  for  themselves,  — 
which  seemed  to  them  reasonable,  since  every  man 
must  give  an  account  for  himself  unto  God. 

The  influence  of  the  clergy  was  observable  in  the 
form  of  the  arguments,  which  appear  to  have  been  as 
dry  as  the  bones  in  the  old  Indian  burying-ground 
in  Pemberton  Square  near  Dr.  Cotton's  house.  Not 
unlikely,  the  preachers  intended  to  improve  the  op- 
portunity for  the  good  of  La  Tour ;  as  one  of  them 
the  year  before  had  given  to  M.  Rochet  a  French 
Testament,  which  he  gratefully  received,  promising 
to  read  it. 

The  questions  were  two :  —  1.  Is  it  lawful  for 
Christians  to  aid  idolaters,  —  that  is,  the  Papists  ? 
And,  if  so,  how  far  ?  2.  Is  it  safe  for  the  State  to 
allow  La  Tour  to  have  aid  against  Charnac^  ? 

The  opposition  based  their  opinions  mainly  upon 
two  passages  of  Scripture :  — 

I.  It  is  not  lawful  for  us  as  a  Christian  people  to 
aid  La  Tour.  2  Chron.  xix.  2  :  "  Shouldest  thou  help 
the  imgodly,  and  love  them  that  hate  the  Lord  ?  '* 


,:»>«NA«lt«  rum  «.ji«..t*i»  *4.a.«» 


192 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


This  text  was  the  main  point ;  it  being  assumed  that 
La  Tour  had  little  religion,  that  ne  was  in  the  Fame 
nest  with  Ahab,  aad  with  Ahaz  whom  Jehoshtiphat 
was  reprehended  for  joining  even  commercially. 
Josias  and  Amaziah  showed  that  righteous  men 
ought  not  to  be  associated  in  any  way  with  the  un- 
godly. It  was  wrong  in  Josias  to  aid  the  King  of 
Babylon  against  Pharaoh  Necho. 

Great  stress  was  laid  upon  carnality,  in  which 
no  confidence  could  be  placed.  La  Tour  might  be 
carnally-minded,  —  as  he  undoubtedly  was. 

The  most  difficult  matter,  however,  for  La  Tour  to 
surmount  was  the  fact  that  he  had  two  Franciscan 
Friars  on  board  the  Clement,  mere  figure-heads  to  be 
sure,  to  give  countenance  to  his  profession  of  Catholi- 
cism in  his  office-holding  under  the  French  King. 
But  divers  of  the  elders,  says  Winthrop,  went  down 
to  confer  with  them,  and  one — Fra  Millais — learned, 
acute,  fluent  in  Latin,  and  a  ready  c'isputant,  was 
brought  up  to  see  Mr.  Cotton.  It  was  against  the  law 
to  have  live  Popish  priests  in  Boston.  Catholicism 
was,  if  there  were  choice,  worse  than  carnality.  La 
Tour  would  keep  no  faith  with  heretics.  Aid  to  a 
Papist  aids  the  Pope. 

Absolutely  no  help  should  be  rendered  to  the 
ungodly  by  the  city  of  saints. 

II.  It  is  not  prudent  for  the  Colony  to  aid  La 
Tour.  Prov.  xxvi.  17 :  "He  that  meddleth  with  a 
strife  belonging  not  to  him  taketh  a  dog  by  the  ears." 
Charnac6  may  be  a  bad  dog  to  handle.     He  is  a 


A  PURITAN  DEBATING  SOCIETY, 


193 


valiant,  prudent,  and  experienced  soldier.  He  is 
spending  £800  a  month  to  carry  his  point.  He  will 
scourge  the  New  England  coast,  if  we  meddle  with 
this  quarrel.  Kittery  is  already  trembling ;  and  Ips- 
wich remonstrates  with  us.  Besides,  if  we  act  against 
Charnace,  it  may  bring  on  war  with  France,  —  a 
nation  not  so  feeble  in  its  intellectuals  as  to  deem 
that  our  permission  is  not  our  action.  And  what 
will  the  authorities  do,  if  Charnac^,  or  France  shall 
demand  the  men  of  our  expedition  as  murderers  ?  If 
the  men  go  confiding  in  the  Governor,  and  their  blood 
is  shed,  and  their  souls  are  lost,  is  not  the  Governor 
responsible  ?  There  is  a  German  proverb,  that  "  he 
who  loseth  his  life  in  an  unnecessary  quarrel  dies  the 
Devil's  martyr." 

Even  if  it  were  wise  for  us  to  intermeddle,  it  would 
not  be  right  to  do  it  without  first  giving  a  hearing 
to  Charnacd.  Shall  we  declare  war,  before  we  know 
whether  it  be  just  or  unjust " 

The  ends  of  war  should  be  religious;  this  is  fili- 
bustering. We  ought  not  to  take  up  with  a  mere 
adventurer. 

If  it  were  right  to  enter  upon  a  war,  it  is  not 
prudent  for  the  colony  to  do  it  now.  Emigration  has 
been  checked  by  the  rising  hopes  of  our  brethren  at 
home.  The  Eomanists  have  risen  in  Ireland;  and 
are  they  not  more  barbarous  than  the  Iroquois  ?  The 
Cavaliers  are  gaining  ground.^    We  know  not  what 

^  John  Hampden,  at  that  moment,  lay  dying  in  defence  of  his 

own  village  against  a  raid  from  Rupert. 

13 


194 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


■J,. 


we  shall  hear  next  from  Westminster.  We  ought  to 
take  no  hasty  action,  and  risk  wrecking  the  great 
hopes  centring  in  our  Commonwealth,  —  so  feeble, 
and  agitated  by  perils  enough  of  our  own  without  the 
taking  up  of  quarrels  in  Acadia.  We  can  assume  no 
risk  except  upon  most  careful  deliberation,  and  the 
weightiest  reasons  to  justify  us  to  God  and  to  the 
coming  ages. 

Upon  the  other  side  it  was  said,  that  the  Biblical 
instances  of  non-communication  alluded  to  were  in- 
tended for  the  particular  cases  then  in  hand,  not  for 
a  uniform  rule ;  and  that  although  Ahab  was  in  no 
such  distress  as  La  Tour,  as  a  matter  of  fact  Jehosha- 
phat  did  make  a  league  of  amity  with  him;  that 
Josiah  broke  no  known  rule;  that  Major  Gibones, 
than  whom  the  Bible  saints  offered  no  better  man, 
had  entertained  a  Jesuit,  and  given  him  a  chamber 
key  and  leave  to  say  mass  in  his  house  to  his  heart's 
content ;  that  if  La  Tour  be  not  helped  he  will  lose 
his  fort,  and  if  he  loses  his  fort  and  stays  here  he 
may  be  dangerous,  and  if  he  goes  over  to  Charnac^  it 
may  be  worse  yet  since  now  he  knows  our  condition ; 
that  we  do  not  rely  upon  his  faith  but  upon  his 
interest, .which  is  to  hold  with  us;  that  aid  to  Papists 
may  win  them  to  the  truth ;  and  that  we  may 
properly  help  Papists  destroy  each  other. 

The  principal  point  advanced  was  that  La  Tour 
should  be  relieved  since  he  was  in  urgent  distress. 
The  Golden  Rule,  the  Good  Samaritan,  were  in  point. 
Gal.  vi.  10 :  "  Do  good  to  all."    Imitate  the  Heavenly 


A  PURITAN  DEBATING  SOCIETY, 


195 


Father  in  making  the  sunshine  and  the  rain  fall  upon 
the  just  and  the  unjust.  Josliua  aided  the  Gibeon- 
ites  against  the  other  Canaanites.*  Jehoshaphat  aided 
Jehoram  against  Moab.  Ezek.  xxvii.  17  shows  that 
we  may  have  commerce  with  idolaters.  Nehemiah 
did  not  forbid  trading  with  the  heathen.  In  Neh. 
V.  17,  —  the  Jews  had  heatlien  at  their  tables.  Solo- 
mon was  courteous  to  the  Queen  of  Sheba.  First 
Corinthians  shows  that  Christians  may  go  to  heathen 
tables,  if  asked.  ' 

There  is  ample  Scriptural  ground  for  us  to  go  upon, 
in  relieving  the  distress  of  La  Tour. 

For  the  second  point,  the  quarrel  is  ours,  since  it 
is  our  duty  to  aid  La  Tour  in  his  distress,  and  to 
weaken  Charnacd ;  it  helps  us  to  help  La  Tour  in  his 
attack  on  his  enemy.  Our  business  interests  demand 
it.  The  Trial,  the  first  ship  built  in  Boston,  is  in 
the  Acadian  trade.  The  profits  are  immense.  It  is  a 
point  of  conscience  with  us  to  make  money,  and  build 
up  our  seaport,  which  Winthrop  selected  with  such 
sagacity.  The  early  French  navigators,  in  exploring 
the  coast,  did  not  have  the  wit  to  discover  Boston. 

As  to  the  fear  of  Charnacd,  we  should  not  omit 
what  is  lawful  and  necessary  lest  evil  come  of  it. 
We  ought  to  aid  La  Tour  in  distress,  and  not  fear,  — 
1  Peter,  iii.  6.  Also,  —  "  The  fear  of  man  bringeth  a 
snare."  Some  fears  were  raised  against  our  first 
expedition  against  the   Pequots ;   the  Governor  of 

^  Hubbard  mentions  this  as  Governor  Winthrop's  principal 
argument. 


rwMB«»iuni«Ka 


196 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Plymouth  and  the  Connecticut  brethren  were  afraid  ; 
but  the  war  was  a  blessing  to  the  English.  "The 
Lord  hath  brought  us  hither,  through  the  swelling 
sea,  through  perils  of  pyrates,  tempests,  leakes,  fires, 
rocks,  sands,  diseases,  starviugs ;  and  hath  here  pre- 
served us  these  many  years  from  the  displeasure  of 
Princes,  the  envy  and  rage  of  Prelates,  the  malignant 
plots  of  Jesuits,  the  mutinous  contentions  of  dis- 
contented persons,  the  open  and  secret  attempts  of 
barbarous  Indians,  tlie  seditious  and  undermining 
practices  of  hereticall  false  brethren ;  and  is  our  con- 
fidence and  courage  all  swallowed  up  in  the  fear  of 

one  Charnacd  ? "  ^ 

1 1 

Charnac^  has  already  acted  against  us;  and  it 
cannot  well  be  worse.  If  we  aid  La  Tour,  we  get  his 
help  to  weaken  a  dangerous  enemy. 

There  can  be  no  danger  from  France,  since  La  Tour 
is  on  good  terms  with  his  King.  He  is  the  rightful 
ruler,  and  we  ought  to  aid  him.  He  shows  you  here 
his  commission  as  Lieutenant  General  of  New  France, 
under  the  hand  of  Louis  XIII.  Nor  can  it  be  said 
that  the  French  are  changeable,  since  here  is  a  letter 
from  La  Tour's  official  correspondents  in  France, 
dated  only  three  months  since,  informing  him  of  the 
injury  Charnacd  is  working  against  him  in  France, — 
advising  him  to  look  to  his  interests, — and  addressed 
to  him  as  Lieutenant  General.  And  here  is  the 
parchment  commission  of  Captain  Martin  of  the 
Clement,  to  carry  supplies  to  La  Tour,  signed  only 

*  Compare  Hutchinson,  p.  131. 


A  PURITAN  DEBATING  80C1ETT. 


197 


two  months  since  by  the  Vice  Admiral  of  France,  in 
which  La  Tour  is  styled  His  Majesty's  Lieutenant 
General  of  Acadia. 

Nor  can  it  rightfully  be  said  that  we  are  to  hear 
Charnacd's  story  first.  We  are  to  help  first,  as  Abra- 
ham did  Lot  in  his  distress,  then  judge  of  the  justice 
afterwards.  Moreover,  we  have  heard  Charnacd 
against  La  Tour  by  our  traders ;  and  Charnacd  is  in 
the  wrong.  Besides,  we  will  offer  him  parley  before 
wo  fight. 

This  has,  also,  all  the  merits  of  a  religious  war. 
Tliere  can  be  no  work  more  noble  than  that  of  Mad- 
ame La  Tour  in  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  ;  there 
can  be  no  greater  safeguard  against  the  Jesuits  in 
America  than  to  aid  her.  She  has  Protestantism 
enough  for  the  two,  even  if  La  Tour  himself  were 
positively  a  Romanist,  which  he  is  not ;  at  worst,  he 
is  only  a  nominal  Catholic  from  the  necessity  of  his 
office.  Charnac4  has  been  educated  by  the  Jesuits ; 
he  is  a  Jesuit ;  he  obeys  the  orders  of  the  Jesuits ; 
Captain  Hawkins,  here,  knows  what  the  Jesuits  are, 
he  has  seen  them  in  Spain ;  and  Dr.  Cotton  says,  that 
the  Friars  on  the  Clement  are  not  Jesuits,  that  they 
are  Franciscans,  and  that  St.  Francis  was  a  harmless 
and  rather  pious  lunatic. 

There  can  be  no  danger  to  the  colony,  or  lack  of 
prudence,  in  allowing  La  Tour  to  help  himself,  —  hire 
men  and  ship^,  and  pay  his  own  bills  cash  down,  — 
at  this  time.  There  is  no  real  danger.  We  run  no 
risk.    And,  even  if  there  were  danger,  enterprising 


mifimmmmmm 


^^. 


198 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


business  men  are  accustomed  to  assuming  risks,  and 
our  merchants  run  risks  every  voyage  they  make  to 
Spain  or  England,  and  why  not  to  Acadia  ? 

It  was,  after  hearing  all  these  arguments  extended 
throughout  two  long  summer  days,  determined  by 
the  authorities  —  not  to  give  permission  to  any  to  go 
and  make  war,  oh,  no,  —  but  to  such  as  La  Tour 
hired  the  Governor  was  to  give  leave  to  go:  there 
being  a  law  that  no  one  should  go  out  of  the  patent 
by  land  or  sea,  without  first  obtaining  permission  of 
the  Governor,  or  his  deputy. 

This  decision  the  Governor  was  very  careful  to 
explain  in  a  long  written  communication  to  the  mal- 
contents from  the  country.^  The  main  part  of  the 
arguments  would  have  been  in  favor  of  aiding  Char- 
nac^  in  an  attack  on  La  Tour,  if  he  had  applied  first 
with  the  money  in  his  pocket,  —  he  being  in  as  much 
"  distress  "  to  take  the  beleaguered  Castle  as  La  Tour 
was  to  hold  it. 

You  may  see,  said  Winthrop,  that  there  is  a  wide 
difference  between  giving  men  a  commission  to  fight, 
and  giving  them  leave  to  be  hired  to  fight.  Is  it  not 
the  calling  of  ship  owners  to  go  out  for  hire  ?  They 
may  without  impropriety  hire  out  to  La  Tour.  For- 
eign nations  allow  their  citizens  to  go  as  soldiers  to 
other  nations.  Our  Bostonians  have  the  same  right, 
if  they  get  their  money.  Although  we  have  a  law, 
dating  back  to  June  14,  1631,  that  no  Boston  money 

1  Eleven  octavo  pages  —  of  Latin,  and  Scripture,  and  sophisms  — 
in  Hutchinson. 


A  PURITAN  DEBATING  SOCIETY. 


199 


sliall  be  paid  out,  even  to  buy  food  of  any  strange 
ship,  so  that  it  is  liable  to  be  carried  off  never  to 
return,  without  the  Governor's  permission; — I  am 
unable  to  find  any  law  to  prevent  us  from  giving 
La  Tour  liberty  to  spend  what  money  he  has  in 
Boston. 

The  fact  is,  that  General  La  Tour  had  come  into 
Boston  at  the  right  door.  The  La  Tours  became  the 
fashion.  Madame  was  heavenly,  and  the  General  was 
earthly  •  cind  between  them  both  they  made  a  perfect 
match.  The  town  was  all  agog  with  the  La  Tours  for 
a  few  days.  Jonathan  Negoos,  David  Offley,  Robert 
Keayne,  Thomas  Munt,  Bartholomew  Pasmer,  and 
other  great  merchants  were  to  furnish  provisions  and 
Tr.unitions  for  the  expedition,  which  was  a  dead  cer- 
tainty as  soon  as  there  appeared  to  be  money  in 
it.  La  Tour  had  done  nothing  but  lay  pipes  for  the 
debate ;  and  he  did  it  by  making  it  for  the  interest 
of  leading  men  to  league  with  him.  Those  who  could 
make  a  profit  of  a  hundred  per  cent  upon  their  mer- 
chandise, and  twenty-five  more  by  exchange,  in  those 
early  days,  were  all  with  La  Tour  to  a  man. 

Had  Charles  la  Tour  been  brought  up  among  the 
courtiers  of  France  or  the  politicians  of  England,  he 
could  not  have  had  at  more  perfect  command  the 
power  to  adapt  himself  to  every  man  he  met.  At 
the  Three  Mariners,  he  expressed  himself  in  regard 
to  Charnac^  in  phraseology  less  conservative,  by  far, 
than  that  employed  by  Gibones,  who,  as  the  boys 
said,  stood  a  fair  chance  to  become  an  elder  in  the 


200 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


church.  To  Captain  Hawkins  he  spoke  in  particular 
of  the  learning,  the  skill,  the  zeal,  the  artfulness,  the 
cunning,  the  intrigue  of  Charnacd, — who,  as  a  Jesuit 
of  the  Jesuits,  would  within  ten  years  make  torches 
of  Protestant  Boston  seamen  upon  the  Acadian  coast. 
To  all,  he  made  a  great  deal  out  of  that  Scotch  baro- 
netcy which  his  over-contident  father  had  procured  for 
him  from  King  Charles  ^  for  surrendering  a  fort  which 
he  never  surrendered.  That  his  father  was  an  English- 
man went  for  something.  His  relationships,  his  titles, 
his  land  grants,  his  holdings,  were  of  a  variety  to 
meet  any  reasonable  demands  made  upon  him.  La 
Tour  was  in  a  land  where  titles  could  be  made  to 
tell,  and  he  used  them. 

He  could  carry  on  a  conversation  alone,  with  as 
many  dramatis  personam  as  any  playwright.  "  Who  are 
you  now,  Charles  la  Tour  ? "  "  Whom  do  you  want  ? 
I  am  made  up  to  suit  circumstances." 

La  Tour  in  visiting  Boston  came  as  an  old  settler, 
having  roughed  it  for  a  score  of  years  before  that  town 
was  founded.  He  did  whatever  was  needful  to  main- 
tain his  footing.  Leaving  others  to  debate  the  equi- 
ties, he  allowed  nothing  to  hinder  his  strict  attention 
to  his  own  interests,  —  whatever  might  betide  the 
remainder  of  mankind. 

It  was  not  known  at  that  time  how  much  or  how 

little  he  was  controlled  by  a  profound  moral  sense, 

or  whether  he  had  that  commodity.     No  Jesuit  ever 

crossed  the  Atlantic  more  artful  than  Charles  la  Tour 

1  Hanney's  Acadia,  pp.  112,  118. 


A  PURITAN  DEBATING  SOCIETY.         201 

in  winniug  his  way,  or  less  consulting  his  conscience. 
The  great  interest  of  the  La  Tours  was  always  in 
his  mind,  as  a  "Superior"  to  whom  he  must  render 
prompt,  unquestioning,  and  irresponsible  obedience. 

To  him  the  hub  of  the  universe  was  Monsieur 
Charles  la  Tour,  Knight  of  the  Order  of  the  King, 
Lieutenant  General  of  New  France,  and  Baronet  of 
Nova  Scotia,  Sir  Charles  de  St.  Etienne,  Seigneur  de 
St.  Deniscourt. 

It  was,  even  at  that  remote  day,  plain  sailing  for 
such  a  man  in  Boston. 


202 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


I  i 


XXIV. 


SETTING    SAIL. 


TTEAVY  FISTED,  solid,  substantial,  hard-money 
•*•  -^  Hawkins,  and  Major  Gibones,  executed  the 
contract  with  General  La  Tour,  for  four  ships,  thirty- 
eight  guns,  and  one  hundred  and  forty-two  men.  The 
ship  owners  were  to  have  $2600,  for  two  months  ser- 
vice. They  were  to  be  made  ready  for  the  tenth  of 
July.  The  Greyhound,  the  Philip  and  Mary,  and 
the  Increase,  were  put  in  order  for  the  voyage ;  the 
Seabridge  also,  which  had  just  returned,  June  23, 
from  England,  having  on  board  twenty  children  of 
the  colonists,  who  had  been  sent  at  the  expense  of 
the  Puritan  churches  at  home.  The  children  were 
set  ashore,  and  the  soldiers  filed  in. 

The  town  was  small,  but  there  were  many  servants 
in  proportion  to  the  population.  These  made  up  a 
larger  body  of  soldiery  than  would  ordinarily  be  found 
among  so  few  houses ;  which  were  it  is  likely  more 
than  the  two  score  named  by  Josselyn,  who  was  dis- 
gruntled for  the  little  hospitality  shown  him.  The 
village  lay  upon  the  cove  with  no  house  save. Dr. 
Cotton's  west  of  Tremont  street,  and  hardly  half  a 


SETTING  SAIL. 


<r^^: 


203 


dozen  houses  far  southward  towards  the  present 
Essex  and  Boylston. 

la  the  desire  to  emigrate,  and  receive  the  high 
wages  of  a  new  country,  the  poorer  class  of  laborers, 
men  and  women,  sold  their  services  for  a  term  of 
years ;  and  their  labor  was  made  profitable  in  de- 
veloping varied  industries  of  sea  and  land.  Any 
property  holder  of  two  to  three  thousand  pounds 
employed  ten  or  twelve  lusty  servants;^  and  there 
was  not  a  house  in  Boston  however  small  its  means 
without  one  or  two ;  and  five  or  six  was  a  common 
nuraber,2  —  many  being  negroes  worth  from  £8  to 
£16.  When  therefore  Governor  Winthrop,  a  month 
before  La  Tour's  arrival,  had  the  general  May  train- 
ing, two  regiments  of  the  Bay  colony  were  mustered 
at  Boston,  comprising  a  thousand  men,  of  whom  the 
most  were  serving  men.  Their  skilful  management 
ia  divers  sorts  of  skirmishes  under  Colonel  Dudley 
excited  great  admiration. 

General  La  Tour  having  expressed  the  desire  to 
land  his  one  hundred  forty  people  from  the  Clement, 
for  exercise,  he  was  permitted  to  do  so,  if  in  small 
companies  so  as  not  to  alarm  the  women  and  chil- 
dren.3  The  Governor  did  not  feel  afraid,  since,  during 
La  Tour's  entire  stay,  he  never  took  his  constitutional 
even,  between  his  house  and  the  windmill  at  the  foot 
of  Summer  street  by  the  Milk  street  lane,  without 

1  New  England's  Prospect,  1634. 

2  Report  French  Protestant  Refugee,  1687. 
'  Drake's  Boston,  p.  270. 


..(^iMMMMiMMlM:  0-Mf.n*.  .^  ,^ 


204 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


W     !] 


a  body  guard  of  halberdiers  and  musketeers ;  he  in- 
tended to  run  no  risk  after  his  scare  on  the  twelfth 
of  June. 

When  General  La  Tour  exercised  his  French  sol- 
diers, the  Governor,  not  perhaps  as  a  precaution  but 
out  of  civility  to  his  guests,  —  much  as  the  armed 
shallops  went  down  to  the  garden  with  Houtchin 
to  escort  La  Tour  to  town,  —  ordered  out  the  entire 
village  military.  They  got  together  a  hundred  and 
fifty,  it  being  a  busy  time  of  year  for  the  servants. 
It  was  upon  this  grand  occasion,  that  men  were  en- 
listed for  the  Acadian  service,  and  first  formed  into  a 
line.  Elder  Oliver's  old  Pequot  war-horse,  lest  he 
should  become  excited  by  the  martial  music,  was 
safely  secured  in  the  pound,  which  stood  upon  the 
site  now  occupied  by  the  Atlantic  Monthly  on  Park 
street;  and  the  town's  cows  were  kept  well  down 
upon  the  Back  Bay  near  Fox  hill,  so  that  —  being 
accustomed  to  seeing  the  well  disciplined  soldiers  of 
Dudley  —  they  need  not  be  frightened  at  the  new 
recruits. 

The  British  flag,  —  with  the  St.  George  cross  cut 
out  by  fiery  Endicott  one  day  when  he  wanted  to 
rebuke  Satan  in  the  Popish  symbol,  —  was  flying 
over  the  Wishing  Stone,  near  what  is  now  the  junc- 
tion of  Beacon  and  Joy,  where  so  many  joyous  young 
Puritans  had  plighted  their  loves  ;^   and   under  its 

^  All  that  a  maiden  had  to  do,  was  to  walk  around  the  stone 
nine  times,  then  stand  upon  the  stone,  and  silently  wish  ;  and  the 
young  man  would  pop  immediately. 


SETTING  SAIL. 


r^. 


205 


bright  color,  never  so  beautiful  to  her  as  now,  Con- 
stance sat  with  Mistress  Gibones  to  see  the  parade. 
It  is  one  of  the  Gibones  family  traditions,  that  Mar- 
garett  and  Constance  walked  around  the  stone,  and 
stood  upon  it,  like  school  girls,  wishing  well  to  the 
expedition. 

The  first  man  to  take  La  Tour's  money,  from  Israel 
Fife  the  recruiting  officer,  was  Edward  Palmer,  who 
had  been  only  just  now  released  from  the  stocks ;  he 
remarked  to  Fife  in  a  low  tone  that  he  wanted  to  air 
himself  in  some  other  jurisdiction.  He  had  spent  two 
days,  and  found  all  the  material,  in  making  new 
stocks,  upon  order,  for  the  colony ;  but  when  he 
brought  in  his  bill  £1  13s.  Id.,  the  authorities  said  it 
was  too  much ;  fined  him  £5 ;  and  set  him  in  the  stocks. 

The  second  was  Bobby  Bartlett,  whose  tongue  had 
been  in  a  cleft  stick,  the  day  before,  —  as  he  stood 
an  hour  in  the  Market  place  at  the  head  of  King 
street,  —  for  swearing  in  the  ordinary  style  of  those 
who  did  not  belong  to  the  church.  He,  too,  wanted 
to  get  out  of  the  jurisdiction. 

Danyell  Mawd,  George  Curtys,  servant  to  John 
Cotton,  Barnaby  Dorryfall,  one  of  Gibones'  men 
who  had  hurried  up  from  the  farm  at  PuUen  Point, 
William  Coursar  a  coblar,  John  Gallop  a  fisherman, 
Holbech  Eukas,  John  Button  the  mylner,  Richard 
Bulgar  a  bricklayer,  and  Myles  Tame  leather  dresser, 
all  members  of  Dr.  Cotton's  church,  next  came  for- 
ward in  a  body,  —  Curtys  having  a  bonus  to  recruit 
in  the  church,  to  give  character  to  the  company. 


206 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Captain  John  Chaddock,  a  son  of  the  Governor  of 
Bermuda,  came  forward  with  a  number  of  substantial 
citizens,  men  of  property,  some  of  whom  wished  to 
see  Acadia  and  its  resources  for  themselves.  Among 
them  Mrs.  Gibones  recognized  John  Newdigate,  Wil- 
liam Hailestone,  Robert  Blott,  Richard  Straine,  John 
Lugg,  and  Walter  Sinet. 

Ninety-two  soldiers  were  soon  made  up,  Gibones 
and  Hawkins  furnishing  fifty-two  seamen.  There 
were  so  many  eager  to  go,  that  there  was  at  the  last 
a  struggle  made ;  the  last  two  who  —  in  the  crowd  — 
could  get  the  attention  of  Fife,  were  William  Beer 
and  John  Milk. 

The  French  soldiers  from  the  Clement  delighted 
the  English  by  the  perfection  of  their  discipline. 
They  came  near  creating  a  serious  panic,  when,  in 
their  exercises,  they  suddenly  threw  down  their  guns, 
drew  their  swords,  and  appeared  to  make  a  charge.^ 
The  children  ran ;  and  the  women  screamed,  —  Theo- 
dosia  Hay  swooning  on  the  grass.  Lieutenant  Fife, 
who  upon  Hawkins's  request  had  received  a  Captain's 
commission,  drew  his  sword  and  turned  to  his  awk- 
ward squad,  shouting, —  "  Stand  firm."  Cotton  Flacke 
and  Gamaliell  Wayte  turned  pale ;  and  acted  so  fool- 
ishly that  Fife  persuaded  them  to  stay  at  home,  in 
which  he  was  warmly  seconded  by  their  good  wives 
Penelope  and  Elynor.  Penelope  Flacke  told  Cotton, 
if  Charnace  was  going  to  act  like  that,  she  did  not 
want  him  to  go  within  ten  foot  of  him. 

1  Winthrop,  II.  108. 


SETTING  SAIL. 


-,i»' 


207 
'     ■'        J 
General  La  Tour  infonned  the  Governor,  that  it 

was  a  great  surprise  to  him  to  see  so  many  soldiers 
as  the  Boston  militia  gathered  in  one  town  and  so 
well  armed;  and  that  he  never  saw  such  training 
before,  and  that  he  would  not  have  believed  it  pos- 
sible if  he  had  not  seen  it.^ 

It  all  ended  with  an  invitation  from  the  Boston 
officers  to  the  French  officers  to  go  home  with  them 
to  dinner;  and  the  soldiers  invited  the  French  sol- 
diers. A  dinner  was  given  to  such  of  the  La  Tour 
recruits  as  cared  to  partake  of  it,  under  the  shade 
trees  near  the  sink  hole  where  the  cows  were  watered 
in  the  middle  of  the  pasture. 

The  Constable  Houtchin  had  been  round  town  and 
got  up  a  corner  in  beans,  as  soon  as  he  learned  the 
decision  of  the  Governor  to  let  La  Tour  have  the 
men.  He  earned  in  this  way  enough  to  replace 
with  gold  the  brass  tip  of  five  or  six  inches  at  the 
top  of  his  black  official  staff  of  five  feet  and  a  half. 
It  is  painful  to  complete  the  record,  —  he  was  set  in 
the  stocks,  fined  and  deprived  of  his  office  for  indulg- 
ing in  the  luxury ;  if  all  this  had  happened  in  season, 
he  too  would  have  gone  out  of  the  jurisdiction. 

Happily  it  was  not  known  upon  that  day  what  the 
final  effect  would  be  of  the  rise  in  beans ;  but  great 
indignation  was  expressed  by  some  of  the  poorer 
families,  particularly  by  Charity  Brown  and  Thomas 
Grubbe  whose  sons  had  enlisted. 

The  enterprising  Ann  Ruby  and  Elizabeth  Trout, 


1  Compare  Drake's  Boston,  p.  270. 


208 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


who  then  occupied  Blaxton's  log  cabin,^  sent  their 
boys  round  with  fresh  fish  balls,  well  browned,  two 
for  a  penny,  —  and  Joe  Takouchin  was  instructed  by 
La  Tour  to  buy  them  out  for  his  new  soldiers.  Tlie 
Gibones  family  and  the  La  Tours  picnicked  with  the 
recruits.  If  the  baked  beans  did  not  quite  go  round 
for  a  second  serving,  the  Indian  pudding,  the  brown 
bread,  and  the  bushels  of  doughnuts,  allowed  no  one 
to  lack.  "One  sees  many  people  of  good  appetite 
in  this  land,"  remarked  an  eminent  Frenchman,  of 
the  Bostonians;2  and  La  Tour,  a  good  eater,  and 
hearty,  as  if  brought  up  on  English  roast  beef,  re- 
marked to  the  Major,  that,  if  the  truth  must  be  told, 
it  was  the  report  which  M.  Eochet  had  brought  of 
Madame  Gibones*  cooking,  which  had  led  him  to  run 
away  from  the  fort,  where  Charnacd  must  suppose 
him  to  be  still  starving. 

The  French  soldiers  discharged  their  fire-arms  as  a 
salute  at  the  landing ;  and  the  recruits  embarked  for 
Long  Island.  This  was  the  night  in  which,  by  the 
old  records,  voices  were  heard  issuing  from  the  hill 
upon  the  west  of  Winthrop  Island,  and  sparkles  of 
fire  were  seen  upon  the  height.  It  was  believed  that 
the  demons  were  let  loose.^  One  minister  wrote 
Winthrop,  asking  him  where  his  conscience  was  that 
he  could  be  so  careless  of  the  good  of  the  State ;  and 
another  said  in  his  sermon,  that  the  streets  of  Boston 
would  yet  run  blood  on  this  account. 

1  Between  Louisburg  Square  and  Charles  Street. 

2  Fr.  Prot.  Ref.  Report,  p.  33. 
8  King's  Hand  Book. 


SETTING   SAIL. 


r^' 


209 


I 


The  Governor  and  Dr.  Cotton  and  their  wives  were 
at  the  breakfast  given  by  Major  and  Mrs.  Gibones 
upon  the  fourteenth  of  July ;  after  which  the  La  Tours 
sailed  with  their  fleet.  1 

M.  Rochet,  when  alone  with  the  General  in  sailing 
down  the  harbor,  joked  hira  about  his  attending  the 
Protestant  services  so  regularly  with  Governor  Win- 
throp,  during  his  entire  stay  in  Boston ;  and  repeated 
Dr.  Cotton's  remark,  anticipating  his  conversion  to 
Protestantism  by  the  influence  of  Madame  La  Tour. 

"  I  am  a  Puritan,"  was  the  answer,  "  in  one  thing. 
They  censured  Governor  Endicott,  when  he  cut  the 
cross  out  of  the  English  flag ;  then  they  doubled,  fox 
like,  and  used  the  mutilated  flag ;  and  will  have  no- 
thing else  in  Boston.  But  down  here  on  the  Castle, 
you  see  the  cross  still  flying,  to  hinder  hostile  criti- 
cism by  British  officers  who  may  put  in  here.  I  am 
Protestant  or  Catholic,  as  may  best  serve  my  turn ; 
just  as  Winthrop  keeps  two  flags  flying  to  please 
everybody." 

Constance  disembarked  at  the  Isles  of  Shoals, 
where  she  chartered  the  barque  Sea  Spray  of  the 
Cutts  Brothers,  and  selected  a  cargo  of  fish  for  La 
Rochelle,  whence  she  expected  to  procure  more  sol- 
diers and  colonists  and  munitions  of  war. 

In  her  youth,  with  tlie  world  before  her,  she  could 
not  entertain  gloomy  thoughts ;  but  when  she  was 
alone,  now  the  first  time  for  so  long,  save  in  the 
quiet  chamber  overlooking  the  Town  Cove  in  Boston, 
she  felt  that  strange  sense  of  moral  widowhood,  which 

u 


210 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


comes  to  so  mauy  noble  women,  wlion  tliey  cease  to 
hope  ^qainst  hope,  and  confess  to  themselves  that 
there  is  a  deep  gulf  morally  between  husband  and 
wife,  a  gulf  which  possibly  will  never  be  bridged  in 
time  or  eternity. 

With  her  Huguenot  training,  the  spiritual  Tnr/;i'ebta 
of  her  home  were  of  surpassing  momenf ;  evar  ihing 
else  sinking  out  of  sight  in  the  comporUr,  >. 

She  sat  long  upon  the  shelving  rocks,  looking 
westward ;  the  coloring  upon  the  water  not  fading 
out  until  nearly  ten  o'clock.  It  brought  vividly  to 
mind  her  honeymoon  evenings  at  Pentagoiiet.  How 
strange  it  seemed  to  her,  that  Charnace  had  now 
lived  there  for  many  months,  and  had  there  plotted 
to  de«t  ioy  her  home,  and  there,  —  most  dreadful 
thought  of  all,  —  had  murmured  her  name  in  ac- 
cents of  love,  murmured  it  to  the  winter  birds  in  the 
solitary  woods,  like  a  love-sick  boy. 

The  terrible  domestic  tragedies  of  the  Reformation 
and  the  generations  next  following,  came  crowding 
in  upon  her  memory.  Of  some  she  had  personally 
known.  Many  in  the  circle  of  her  acquaintance 
were  the  children  Ox  a  nar^ntage,  who  were  once 
broken  of  all  their  ri';'.  o  religi  .\o  divisions, — 
the  wife  one  side  and  husband  the  other,  or  the 
mother  one  side  and  her  child  the  other,  or  lovers 
separated  and  finally  contending  against  each  other. 
It  had  been  so,  over  no  small  part  of  the  civilized 
^.vorld.  It  was  the  separation  of  Calvin,  Luther, 
Zvvingle,  Huss,  Wyclif,  Knox,  from  the  Romanist ;  a 


SETTINO  SAIL. 


211 


y 


separation  of  kinst'olk  upon  moral  grounds, — a  separa- 
tion that  (sach  of  the  dividod  friends  would  risk  deuth 
to  maintain,  so  long  as  the  religious  diflerenct  i  ight 
exist.  What  anxieties,  whaL  sorrows,  what  he.. 't- 
breakings,  what  groaning  prayers,  what  deaths  vfvm 
undergone  for  domestic  friends  in  those  grim  ag  ■"<. 

This  gloomy  historic  background  did  not,  ho\s  ver, 
make  it  less  a  sorrow  t«  Constance.  She  mo.  nod  a.  ud 
by  tlie  low  murmuring  sunnner  sea ;  and  mingled  bei- 
tears  with  the  salt  spray,  which  rose  now  and  th  i 
when  a  heavy  wave  fell  uj  on  the  rocks  at  her  fet 
Had  she  rejected  Charnacd  *o  marry  a  man  tauut«*i 
by  the  Puritans  as  an  idolatt  r  ?  She  was  glad  that 
she  had  stayed  in  her  chamler  to  pray,  instead  of 
going  into  the  meeting  house  to  hear  thosr»  plain- 
spoken  men,  whose  words  her  husband  had  reliearsed 
to  her  with  laughter,  as  though  it  were  all  a  joke,  as 
in  truth  he  took  it.  He  said  that  they  meant  nothing 
by  it,  except  to  hinder  the  expedition ;  that  they  cared 
nothing  about  it. 

But  upon  the  heart  of  Coastai  ce  the  words  fell 
like  clods  upon  a  coffin  lid,  the  cofi  n  of  her  husband. 
He  was  as  much  separated  from  hi  as  if  dead.  His 
laughter  seemed  grim,  and  almost  t.emoniacal.  Per- 
haps she  was  tired,  had  undergone  t<  lo  much  nervous 
strain.  She  had  felt  anxious  for  her  child.  She  had 
felt  so  anxious,  heaven  alone  knew  I  ow  anxious,  for 
a  quickened  moral  sensibility  in  her  husband.  She 
had  prayed  so  much  for  this.  Now  she  was  homo 
down  by  the  chagrins  of  the  hour. 


212 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


With  all  her  womanly  nature  she  had  deliberately 
crushed  the  instincts  of  her  heart  reaching  out  toward 
Charnacd,  and  had  said,  No ;  she  would  not  marry  a 
papist.  She  had  married  Charles  la  Tour  as  much  as 
for  any  reason  because  he  was  a  Protestant ;  not  cer- 
tainly because  he  was  the  deliberate  choice  of  her 
heart,  —  as  Charnacd  was,  whom  she  loved  during  so 
many  years,  vainly  hoping  to  bring  him  back  to  his 
mother's  God  without  a  pope  to  stand  between  him 
and  his  Maker.  And  when  it  slowly  dawned  upon 
her  after  her  marriage,  that,  —  in  the  wreck  of  all 
earthly  hopes  by  the  destruction  of  her  father's  house 
and  by  the  death  of  her  brotlier,  —  she  had  pledged 
her  word  to  La  Tour  without  sufficient  knowledge  of 
him,  she  had  wearied  the  heavens  in  praying  for  him ; 
and  had  exhausted  every  persuasive  power  upon  him. 
And  with  what  result  ? 

The  dreadful  words  of  that  man  whom  they  called 
the  Cobbler  of  Agawam,  Nathaniel  Ward,  had  rung 
in  her  ears :  he  had  merely  told  the  truth,  when  he 
spoke  of  her  husband  as  a  carnal  man.  Would  not 
Paul  have  added,  that  Charles  la  Tour  was  at  enmity 
with  God  ?  Conscious  as  she  was  of  her  own  moral 
defects,  Constance  had  never  been  willing  to  think 
such  thoughts  of  her  husband ;  perhaps  she  had  been 
too  lenient  in  her  judgment.  But  these  blunt  Puri- 
tans had  merely  used  the  sonorous  and  fearful  Bible 
phrases;  which  might  be  the  premonitory  rumbling 
of  a  day  of  wrath.  Her  husband  had  always  said, 
"  Yes,"  *'  Yes,"  to  all  her  tender  loving  words,  and 


SETTING  SAIL. 


213 


pleadings,  in  relation  to  a  high  moral  plane  of  life, 
living  wliolly  unto  God.  But  she  had  never  known 
him  to  be  so  utterly  devoid  of  all  moral  sensibility  as 
now. 

Is  not  an  idolater,  she  asked  herself,  better  than  a 
carnal  man ;  a  miseducated  perverted  moral  sense 
better  than  none  ?  Charnacd  had  a  superabundance 
of  spiritual  life,  he  was  charged  with  it ;  he  would 
act  according  to  conscience  in  the  end.  If  he  had 
not  persisted  in  giving  his  conscience  to  some  one 
else;  if  he  had  remained  master  of  it;  if  he  had 
worked  out  his  own  salvation  with  the  God  working 
in  him  to  will  and  to  do;  in  short,  if  he  had  not 
bound  himself  or  rather  remained  quiet  while  some 
one  else  had  bound  him,  hand  and  foot,  and  thrown 
him  like  a  bundle  to  be  ticketed  and  used  at  will  by 
the  Order  of  Jesus,  —  she  would  have  married  him. 
But  she  had  refused  to  be  so  unequally  yoked ;  she 
had  refused  him, —  only  to  yoke  herself,  when  her 
eyes  were  blinded  with  tears,  to  aa  unbeliever; 
and  now  all  the  evil  consequences  predicted  by 
Paul  had  come  to  pass.  One  end  of  the  yoke  was 
high,  the  other  low ;  and  it  was  hard  to  draw  life's 
load. 

Like  a  meteor  streaming  across  the  sky,  casting  a 
strange  light  upon  land  and  sea,  then  sinking  out  of 
sight  forever,  the  thought  flashed  upon  the  mind  of 
Constance,  that  if,  after  all,  she  had  followed  her 
heart  and  married  Charnac^,  he  would  have  been 
finally  led  by  his  love  rather  than  by  his  theology ; 


^lttV0*td**^ 


214 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


that  the  ties  by  which  his  loving  teacher  had  tied 
him  to  the  Scarlet  Woman,  the  Mother  Church, 
would  have  been  first  slackened,  then  loosened  for- 
ever, if  she  had  married  him  and  bestowed  upon  him 
one  half  the  wealth  of  aftection,  the  sedulous  devo- 
tion, the  days  and  nights  of  prayer,  that  she  had 
bestowed  upon  the  carnal  La  Tour. 

This  unwifely  thought  alarmed  her ;  and  she  rose 
from  the  dark  sea,  with  its  planetary  lights  dancing 
upon  the  ground  ewell,  and  retired  to  h-^r  lodging. 
It  would  be  well,  she  thought,  if  now  <.;;/  ing  two 
months  she  could  be  alone  upon  the  greac  sea,  and 
for  many  months  comparatively  alone.  She  would 
still  besiege  the  heavens ;  and  gain  the  best  of 
spiritual  gifts  for  her  husband.  And  she  would 
place  the  ocean  between  herself  and  Charnacd 
She  would  be  loyal  to  her  husband's  earthly  in- 
terests, and  so  hope  to  gain  his  interest  in  some- 
thing higher.  She  would  live  for  her  child,  from 
whom  their  terrible  domestic  peril  —  fighting  for 
their  home — now  separated  her;  it  was  indeed  a 
happy  providence,  that  Henrietta,  so  domestic,  so 
affectionate,  so  wise,  could  care  for  him. 

With  such  thoughts  she  entered  upon  her  weeks 
of  voyaging ;  entered  into  the  midst  of  the  sea  with 
her  Guardian  Angel,  and  with  that  Presence  which 
was  to  her  more  than  all  earthly  loves,  the  Heavenly 
Bridegroom. 


PASSAQEEWAKEAQ. 


215 


r" 


XXV. 


PASSAGEEWAKEAG. 


/^HARNAC:^  carried  to  tlie  mouth  of  the  St.  John 
^""^  a  pile  of  old  Troubadour  verses ;  the  Cid ;  Pe- 
trarch ;  and  even  Orlando  Furioso,  Boccaccio,  and 
Rabelais ;  Montaigne ;  Dante ;  and,  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  travesty  and  comedy,  Calvin's  Institutes. 
The  Comedy  of  the  Reformation  was  enacted  upon 
the  evening  of  the  fourteenth  of  July;  Fra  Marie 
playing  the  part  of  Luther,  Roland  Capon  the  part  of 
Calvin,  and  Charnac^  figuring  as  the  Pope.  It  had  a 
great  run  in  Paris,  the  winter  following,  where  it  was 
brought  out  under  the  author's  supervision.  Between 
his  summer-time  light  reading  and  play  writing,  his 
fishing,  and  hunting — for  which  he  was  now  in  better 
mood  than  in  midwinter  —  the  weeks  of  beleaguering 
the  La  Tour  Castle  wore  away  very  pleasantly. 

When  Captain  Hawkins  and  Israel  Fife  appeared, 
Charnac^  was  in  the  midst  of  a  knot  of  ecclesiastic 
and  military  comrades,  under  an  awning  upon  his 
quarter  deck,  reading  to  them  aloud  that  Canto  of 
Dante's  Inferno,  in  which  the  poet  peered  into  the 
depths,  and  saw  the  Great  Dragon  grinning  over  the 


216 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


■  l\ 
I 


satisfactory  horrors  in  the  ever  ascending  circles  of 
the  amphitheatre  of  Woe  around  him. 

"Here  comes  the  Dragon,  wing  and  wing,"  cried 
Capon,  upon  seeing  the  Puritan  fleet. 

It  required  no  time  to  decide  what  to  do.     They 
hove  anchor,  dropped  down   on  the  tide;   and   the, 
blockade  was  ended. 

For  six  weeks  the  Castle  had  been  as  silent  as  a 
tomb  sealed  for  ages ;  and  as  little  showing  signs  of 
life,  save  that  the  Lilies  of  France  were  always  flying. 
Now  suddenly,  as  the  sound  of  the  resurrection  trum- 
pet, every  bastion  burst  into  fire,  saluting  La  Tour's 
return  to  the  river.  To  Henrietta  was  accorded  the 
honor  of  first  touching  a  gun. 

Although  La  Tour  had  added  to  his  fleet  the  armed 
pinnace  Henrietta,  picked  up  at  the  Shoals,  outward 
bound  for  Spain,  yet  with  the  Clement  and  the  four 
Puritans,  they  could  not  all,  even  with  a  fair  wind, 
spread  over  any  considerable  area.  The  tide  being  in 
favor  of  Charnac^,  he  had  no  difficulty  in  making  his 
escape  by  an  early  start,  before  his  new  enemy  could 
close  upon  him.  Neither  did  General  La  Tour,  having 
raised  the  blockade,  wish  to  risk  the  damages  of  an 
open  sea  fight. 

The  French,  by  their  local  knowledge  of  the  tide 
and  of  prevailing  winds,  and  of  channels  between 
islands,  kept  clear  of  their  foes,  who  chased  them  into 
the  Penobscot.^    Charnac^  sought  to  make  Biguyduce, 

^  There  is  a  curious  discrepancy  between  Winthrop  and  Hutch- 
inson upon  this  point,  as  to  where  Charnac^  led  his  pursuers. 


PASSAGES  WAKE  AG. 


r 


217 


to  bring  his  ships  under  shelter  of  Pentagoiiet,  but 
La  Tour  under  cover  of  night  secured  such  position  for 
the  Seabridge  and  Increase  as  to  compel  his  enemy 
to  make  the  trysting  place  of  ghosts  at  Belfast,  then 
known  as  Passageewakeag ;  where  Cliaruacd  grounded 
two  of  his  ships  to  prevent  their  capture,  —  the  others 
escaping  down  the  west  channel. 

Charnac^  hastily  threw  up  intrenchments  upon  tlie 
present  town-site.  Captain  Hawkins  sent  up  a  letter 
from  Governor  Winthrop;  but  Charnacd  refused  to 
open  it,  —  since  it  was  not  addressed  to  him  by  his 
official  title  as  Lieutenant  General  for  the  King. 

General  La  Tour  now  landed  his  troops  from  the 
Clement ;  and,  with  thirty  volunteers  from  the  Boston 
force,  fell  with  such  fury  upon  Charuacd  that  the  en- 
emy broke  for  the  spruce  and  disappeared,  leaving 
three  men  dead  in  the  trenches.  Charnacd,  well 
armed,  retired  slowly  with  his  face  to  the  foe. 

It  being  no  part  of  his  contract,  Hawkins  would 
not  aid  in  a  land  assault.  And, —  since  Israel  Fife  had 
at  a  small  premium  taken  a  moderate  war-risk  upon 
such  of  his  company  as  were  best  able  to  pay, — 
sixty-two  of  the  Boston  set  gave  La  Tour  only  their 
moral  support ;  standing  soberly  and  well  armed  upon 
their  decks,  picking  salt  fish  out  of  their  teeth,  it  being 
just  after  breakfast  on  a  Saturday  morning.  Enough, 
however,  is  as  good  as  more.  The  thirty,  plucky 
enough  to  volunteer,  were  enough;  and  not  one  of 
them  received  a  scratch.  Three  young  men  of  the  La 
Ptochelle  troop  were  wounded. 


S18 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Captain  Fife,  however,  who  had  been  so  prudent  of 
the  lives  of  his  men  as  to  form  them  into  a  reserve 
corps  in  the  morning,  undertook  a  night  expedition 
requiring  ready  wit  without  risk.  The  solitary  prisoner 
secured  from  Charnac^'s  trenches,  was  taken  in  hand 
by  Fife  and  by  the  officers  of  his  ship,  the  slow  sailing 
Greyhound,  who  had  been  jeered  at  for  having  been 
a  little  late  ever  since  they  left  Long  Island.  They 
sharply  questioned  the  Breton,  who  rejoiced  in  the 
cognomen  Lancelot  Vitet,  as  to  the  depth  of  water 
where  a  French  pinnace  lay,  in  the  mouth  of  the 
Biguyduce  under  the  gims  of  the  fort.  By  a  little 
brandy  and  no  great  amount  of  silver,  he  was  per- 
suaded to  act  as  guide  to  Captain  Fife, — the  night 
promising  to  be  dark. 

Landing  with  two  boat-loads  of  soldiers  upon  the 
west  side  of  the  Magabiguyduce  peninsula,  Fife  found 
his  way,  cautiously  guarding  against  treachery,  to  the 
mud-flats  of  the  Biguyduce,  it  being  then  low  tide ; 
and  they  marched  stealthily  to  the  channel  side  of 
the  pinnace,  the  Castor,  which  had  been  left  by  the 
tide.  Vitet  in  a  low  voice  called  to  the  watch  for 
a  ladder.  The  watch  was  covered  by  muskets,  and 
pronounced  to  be  dead  if  he  should  resist ;  and  he 
was  informed  that  fire  would  be  set  to  the  vessel  at 
once  if  the  ladder  was  not  forthcoming.  As  soon  as 
the  tide  served,  the  Castor  and  the  Puritans  sailed 
away  from  the  fort  guns  before  daybreak.  The  cargo 
of  the  Castor  had  been  made  up  for  France,  com- 
prising four  hundred  beaver  skins,  and  four  hundred 


\ 


PASSAOEEWAKEAO. 


219 


moose  hides ;  which,  according  to  Winthrop,^  were 
sold  by  outcry  in  Boston,  and  the  prize  money  divided 
among  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  expedition. 

The  Philip  and  Mary, — Captain  Hawkins's  ship, — 
returned  at  La  Tour's  invitation  to  the  St.  John,  to 
load  with  the  coal  of  Grand  Lake;  which  also  was 
sold  by  the  outcry  and  divided.  The  more  substantial 
business  men  of  the  expedition  went  upon  this  trip 
to  Jemsek  and  Grand  Lake;  and  on  their  return 
were  handsomely  entertained  in  the  Castle  La  Tour ; 
Henrietta  in  the  absence  of  Madame  La  Tour,  offering 
the  hospitality  of  the  house,  as  best  she  could  after 
so  long  a  siege. 

General  La  Tour  and  his  little  child  and  nurse, 
with  Claude  la  Tour  and  his  wife,  embarked  in 
Constance's  shallop,  the  Sable,  to  accompany  Captain 
Hawkins  down  the  Bay;  thinking  to  cruise  near 
Cape  Sable  until  Constance  should  appear  in  the  Sea 
Spray.  They  had  not  long  to  wait.  She  had  already 
spoken  the  Philip  and  Mary,  and  learned  the  success 
of  the  expedition. 

The  men  of  Massachusetts  returned  in  high  feather. 
The  country  members  bore  their  chagrin  in  silence. 
Governor  Winthrop  was  more  popular  than  ever. 
The  codfish  smiled  so  perceptibly,  that  the  skin  was 
drawn  into  that  perennial  pucker  which  it  now  wears 
in  the  Hall  of  Eepresentatives. 

Matthew  Nanney,  who  would  not  risk  his  own 
ship  but   urged  his   rival  Hawkins  to  go,  now  ad- 

1  II.  383. 


220 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


mitted  to  Ensign  Tyons  that  he  ought  to  have  risked 
it;  but  he  changed  his  tune,  and  said  that  the 
State  was  foolish,  and  that  the  Governor  never 
should  have  allowed  it,  when  he  heard  of  the  anger 
of  Charnac^. 

The  besieger  had  been  surprised  at  the  ability  of 
La  Tour  to  persuade  the  prudent  Puritans  into  a 
course,  which  was  made  safe  only  by  the  fact  that 
France  had  just  then  too  much  to  do  to  give  suitable 
attention  to  American  affairs. 

Fra  Marie  was  disguised  as  a  civilian,  and  sent 
to  Boston  with  a  saucy  and  savage  letter  to  the 
Governor,  and  a  claim  upon  the  Colony  for  £8000 
damages. 

"  Do  not  haggle  with  them,"  said  Charnacd  curling 
his  lip.  "  Take  whatever  they  are  mean  enough  to 
give.  Make  no  fuss  about  a  little  money.  But  look 
well  at  their  fortifications.  France  may  have  use  for 
the  information  some  day ;  or  I  shall." 

The  people  of  the  Bay  having  learned  something 
of  French  compliments,  were  very  hospitable  to  Char- 
nacd's  envoy.  The  Governor  entertained  him  with 
wine  and  sweetmeats;  and  allowed  him  the  use  of 
the  gubernatorial  yard  for  exercise,  it  being  Sunday 
when  M.  Marie  arrived  at  the  Puritan  mansion.  The 
authorities  made  a  commercial  treaty  with  him,  so 
that  Boston  shipping  /ould  have  new  avenues  for 
trade ;  and  they  promised  to  make  him  a  present. 

One  Captain  Cromwell  of  Boston,  having  in  priva- 
teering captured  a  Spanish  pirate,  found  in  her  hold 


PA8SA  GEE  WAKE  A  Q. 


r 


221 


a  sedan  elaborately  carved  and  gilded,  worth  £50, 
intended  for  the  sister  of  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico ;  not 
knowing  what  to  do  with  it,  when  he  returned  home, 
lie  gave  it  to  Governor  Winthrop.  Winthrop,  not 
knowing  what  to  do  with  it,  made  a  present  of  it  to 
Charnacd. 

The  Governor  sent  with  it  a  long  letter  about 
Christian  duty;  and  stated,  that  it  was  one  of  the 
independent  principles  by  which  those  who  controlled 
the  Colony  were  governed,  to  sell  for  cash. 

A  small  amount  of  powder  was  burned,  as  a  salu- 
tation, when  the  envoy  took  his  chair,  and  left  for 
Acadia. 


222 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


"I 


1  i 


XXVI. 


VERSAILLES. 


T  TPON  the  day  that  Charnucc?  sent  Fra  Marie  to 
^^  Boston,  he  embarked  for  France,  —  seeking  to 
enter  the  St.  John  castle  via  Versailles.  The  one 
great  thought  which  filled  his  mind, — as  he  began, 
continued,  and  ended  his  voyage,  —  was  that  he  had 
been  in  small  business. 

Did  he  not  carrv  that  in  his  own  heart,  which 
made  him  despise  entering  into  a  petty  quarrel  with 
the  sectaries  of  the  Bay,  or  a  St.  John's  fur  trader  ? 
There  was  Constance  in  America,  and  she  was  worth 
living  for,  contending  for;  aside  from  that,  he  would 
throw  up  all  the  cat-skins,  and  filthy  Indians,  and  the 
bickering  colonists  of  a  new  world,  —  settle  down 
in  some  quiet  district  of  France,  to  study.  If  Con- 
stance were  only  in  France,  he  would  do  this  and 
let  the  world  take  its  course.  What  a  pity  that  she 
should  be  immured  in  the  feudal  hold  of  that  un- 
spiritual,  coarse-grained  La  Tour.  It  would  be  truly 
a  revival  of  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  if  he  should  arouse 
a  crusade  to  rescue  her. 

Of  happy  temperament  were  his  old  mates,  who 
greeted  his  return.    He  yielded  to  the  influences  of 


VERSAILLES. 


223 


the  hour,  and  spent  charmed  weeks  in  the  recreation 
of  intellectual  companionship  and  the  literary  trea- 
sures of  the  capital.  The  eminent  divines  of  the  Or- 
der greeted  him  almost  as  an  equal ;  they  were  the 
most  genial  of  men,  of  sunny  hearts  and  unclouded 
brows,  —  to  them  the  world  was  apparently  "  congru- 
ous," "  obedient,"  so  that  they  little  needed  to  have  a 
care.  How  grand  it  seemed  to  the  Acadian  Governor 
to  get  somewhere,  —  out  of  the  woods,  into  the  town. 
Even  the  forty  houses  of  Boston  were  contemptible  in 
comparison  with  Paris.  "What  then  might  be  said  of 
solitary  Pentagoiiet,  and  the  shaggy  forests  which 
covered  the  back  of  a  whole  hemisphere  ?  He  could 
now  for  the  moment  forget  the  wild  creatures  and 
wild  men  of  America.  How  delightful  would  be  the 
day,  when  the  bridle  in  his  mouth  should  be  so  guided 
by  his  Superior  that  he  could  quit  the  New  World 
forever.  To-day,  however,  and  to-morrow,  he  would 
do  his  duty.     The  reward  could  not  be  far  off. 

Conscious  of  his  own  great  powers,  he  could  not 
but  look  forward  to  the  twenty-five  years  next  com- 
ing. How  short  seemed  the  period  since  Richelieu 
was  a  soldier  seizing  the  crosier  of  the  Bishop  of 
LuQon,  —  now  risen  to  such  undreamed-of  heights 
of  power.  If,  in  the  Acadian  woods,  he  had  dared 
think  the  claims  of  the  papacy  inimical  to  the  free 
development  of  individual  manhood,  he  was  glad  now 
at  least  that  he  belonged  to  a  body  whose  presence 
was  felt  throughout  the  world.  He  did  not  remem- 
ber that  he  had  ever  seen  a  meaner  set  of  people  on 


t: 


224 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


the  footstool,  than  the  small-minded,  bitter-spirited 
Protestants  of  the  New  World  The  ancient  Church, 
after  all,  offered  the  only  spliore  for  really  able  men. 

Charnacd  stood  well  in  France  ;  being  connected 
with  tlie  most  noble  families  of  Bas-Berry,^  as  well 
as  with  Richelieu.'^  The  Cardinal  was  the  more  cor- 
dial to  Charnac(5  on  account  of  the  surpassing  ability 
of  his  uncle  the  great  ambassador,  who  if  not  the  first 
of  his  age  was  easily  first  in  France,  giving  his  coun- 
try an  honorable  place  among  the  nations. 

The  points  against  La  Tour,  presented  to  Eichelieu 
by  Charnacd  and  his  genial  Jesuit  friends,  were, — 
that  he  had  fortified  with  treasonable  intent;  that 
one  of  his  fortresses  was  upon  property  belonging  to 
Charnacd ;  that  he  had  made  an  offensive  and  defen- 
sive league  with  the  traditional  enemies  of  France  — 
the  English ;  that  he  had  entered  into  a  league  with 
Protestants  against  the  interests  of  the  Church ; 
that  he  and  his  allies  had  made  an  attack  upon 
Charnacd,  killing  certain  of  his  men,  destroying  bis 
property,  and -depriving  him  of  his  rights.  These 
charges  were,  —  so  far  as  might  be  needful  to  make 
up  a  case  for  the  King's  approval,  —  supported  by 
forged  documents  of  particular  proof. 

La  Tour's  commission  as  Lieutenant  General  was 
revoked.      He  was  formally   charged   with   treason. 

^  Rameau,  p.  68. 

2  Murdoch's  Nova  Scotia  I.  92.  Hanney's  Acadia,  p.  144,  men- 
tions it  as  a  disadvantage  to  La  Tour  that  he  was  not  personally 
known  in  France  ;  his  rival  having  influence  with  the  Cardinal. 


VERSAILLES. 


225 


Aud  to  Charuac^  was  given  authority  to  seize  his 
rival  and  hold  him  for  trial. 

"  Shall  we  include  his  wife  ? "  asked  Richelieu. 
*'  I  hear  that  she  is  a  very  able  woman," 

"Yes,"  answered  Charnac^,  after  dreaming  a  mo- 
ment. "  She  is  no  traitor.  No  one  is  more  loval  to 
France  than  she  j  but  she  is  now  at  one  with  La  Tour. 
Yes,  you  may  as  well  insert  her  name  until  we  catch 
them  both.  Slie  will  be  loyal  enough,  if  we  can  be 
rid  of  La  Tour;  and,  if  she  is  so,  her  name  can 
be  dropped  before  trial.  No  records  are  kept,  I 
believe.'" 

"No  records  have  been  kept;  I  keep  records," 
answered  Richelieu,  "but  of  this  we  will  keep  no 
record  after  the  King  signs  the  order."  ^ 

In  respect  to  the  means  for  carrying  on  the  war 
for  arresting  the  fortified  La  Tour,  it  appeared  that  the 
Hundred  Associates  were  practically  bankrupt,  — 
the  prescience  of  Constance  proving  true  sooner 
than  might  have  been  anticipated.  The  loss  had 
been  in  the  Canadian  not  the  Acadian  part  of  New 
France  ;  at  Quebec  it  had  been  so  great  that  not  one 
of  them  would  put  in  more  money.  In  fact  they 
had  been  obliged  to  turn  over  Quebec  to  Emery  de 
Caen,  the  Huguenot,  who  had  lost  so  heavily  in  the 
embryo  city  when  the  Jesuits  came  in  and  changed 

^  There  is  a  difference  between  the  two  leading  authorities.  Mur- 
doch, I.  99,  indicates,  that  there  were  no  specific  charges  ;  that  the 
action  against  La  Tour  was  obtained  by  influence  ;  Hanney,  p.  146, 
that  the  slanders  against  La  Tour,  upon  which  the  charge  of  treason 
was  brought,  were  discovered  after  the  death  of  his  rival. 

16 


-\. 


226 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


the  rule.  De  Caen  was  to  reclaim  the  trading  post 
from  the  English,  who  had  given  it  up  by  treaty; 
and  was  to  have  the  fur  monopoly  during  one  year 
then  return  it  to  the  Associates.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, the  eminent  divines  with  whom  Charnac^ 
associated,  —  and  to  whom  he  looked  for  counsel,  and 
who  appeared  to  prize  his  counsels  so  highly,  —  were 
not  at  a  loss  what  to  do. 

The  beautiful  system,  of  which  Charnac^  was  a 
part,  was  loose  and  fast  at  the  same  time.  He  had 
been  freed  from  his  vows  of  poverty  in  order  that  he 
might  hold  property  in  his  own  name  ;  and  the^  by  a 
voluntary  obedience  lie  would  —  if  obedient  —  use  it 
in  the  interests  of  the  Church.  To  this  end  Charnac^, 
being  a  relative  of  M.  Eazilly,  had  at  his  death  bought, 
the  Governor's  holdings  in  Acadia  from  his  brother, 
and  although  he  had  taken  immediate  possession  the 
papers  had  not  been  passed.  The  sum  was  nominal ; 
fourteen  thousand  livres,  with  seventeen  years  in 
which  to  pay  it.  Charnac^  was  young  with  the 
world  before  him;  he  would  have  great  wealth,  a 
kingdom  of  his  own,  —  but  his  heart  held  it  for  the 
uses  of  the  Church. 

He  was  now  directed,  —  if  the  word  "  advised  "  is 
not  strong  enough,  —  to  make  a  loan,  upon  this  prop- 
erty, from  some  Protestant  merchant  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  on  the  war  against  Protestantism  in 
Acadia. 

As  Charnacd  conversed  with  his  uncle  at  the  din- 
ing table,  the  Baron  was  pleased  to  remark,  that,  "  In 


VERSAILLES. 


227 


the  courts  of  Europe,  lying  is  considered  the  least  of 
evils.  It  is  deprived  of  power  to  harm,  by  its  univer- 
sality. No  one  acts  upon  the  supposition  that  what 
he  hears  is  true.  Intelligent  persons  are  governed 
solely  by  community  of  interest.  Only  parties  having 
a  common  interest  can  be  depended  upon  to  tell  the 
truth  to  each  other,  and  that  solely  in  relation  to  the 
interest  common  to  both." 

"  It  has  now  come  to  that  pass,"  responded  the 
General  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  had  been 
invited  to  the  house  to  meet  young  Charnacd, "  that 
the  written  lies  almost  outnumber  those  spoken. 
We  have  just  compiled  the  statistics  of  the  secrets 
of  the  confessional,  and  find  that  one  hundred  thou- 
sand persons  have  confessed  forgery  in  France  within 
the  past  year ;  and  no  one  dares  estimate  the  number 
not  confessed." 

Inasmuch  as  the  younger  Charnac^  had  been 
closeted  for  some  days  with  eminent  divines  and 
their  secretaries  in  preparing  the  ruin  of  his  rival ; 
and  since  he  would  start  in  a  day  or  two  for  La 
Eochelle  to  initiate  a  transaction  which  would  not 
unlikely  ruin  some  Huguenot  merchant, — he  was 
glad  to  know  that  his  course  had  the  merit  of  not 
being  singular. 

The  conversation  drifted  to  the  schemes  for  Ameri- 
can colonization. 

"  We  are,  I  believe,  at  fault  in  our  management," 
was  the  proposition  of  the  Governor  of  Acadia,  "in 
the  affairs  of  the  Hundred  Associates.    The  com- 


228 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


pany  handles  Acadia  solely  for  fur ;  for  the  intro- 
duction of  religious  priests;  and  sends  there  from 
France  only  a  hireling  population.  This  method  can 
never  compete  with  the  English,  who  make  it  an 
ohject  for  small  capitalists  to  go  and  invest  in  the 
country ;  and  make  it  easy  for  poor  men  to  acquire 
property.  More  than  twenty  thousand  colonists  have 
gone  to  Massachusetts  Bay  within  ten  years ;  and 
they  are  a  thrifty  people.  It  is  only  a  question  of 
time  when  they  will  overrun  Acadia,  unless  we  can 
people  that  region  with  Catholic  colonists." 

"Acadia  would  be  crowded  with  Huguenots,"  re- 
plied the  General  of  the  Order,  "if  we  would  let 
them  go.  But  it  would  rob  the  nation  of  a  great 
amount  of  wealth,  and  serve  only  to  build  up  a 
Protestant  France  over  the  sea,  as  the  Due  de  Kohan 
wished  to  have  one  in  Aunis  and  Languedoc." 

"  I  have  thought  of  that,"  said  the  Baron ;  "  but  I 
think,  that,  when  we  are  stronger  at  home,  Eichelieu 
will  not  object  to  sending  them ;  on  the  score  that  it 
may  sometime  help  France  to  hold  America  against 
the  English.  We  shall  certainly  lose  our  grip,  and 
have  no  New  France,  unless  we  can  colonize." 

"Our  Catholic  population  are  just  as  well  off  here," 
answered  the  General ;  "  and  the  plan  we  have  is  the 
only  one  that  will  work,  —  to  convert  the  Indians, 
and  make  them  our  allies  to  fight  the  English." 

"There  is  nothing  nobler,"  replied  Charnace  the 
younger,  "  than  the  self  devotement  of  our  mission- 
aries, facing  perils  unknown  in  new  areas  of  the  con- 


VERSAILLES. 


229 


tinent;  carrying  iu  their  hearts,  and  bearing  before 
God,  all  the  woes  of  the  pagan  people.  And  they 
certainly  benefit  the  Indians;  raising  them  in  the 
scale  a  little.  But  I  often  fear  that  our  Christianity 
itself  will  be  lost  in  the  forests,  by  the  compromise 
our  missionaries  make  with  pagan  notions,  beliefs 
and  customs.  There  is  glory  in  it  for  the  Church, 
and  for  our  Order,  and  for  the  missionaries ;  and  I 
hope  that  some  of  the  savages  will  find  the  glory  of 
the  heavenly  state,  —  but  of  true  religion  they  get 
little." 

"  Still  our  entire  mission  system  throughout  the 
world  would  come  to  a  stand-still,  if  we  did  not 
accommodate  the  Christian  doctrine  and  practice  to 
the  pagan  mind  and  habit,"  replied  the  General. 

"  I  presume,"  interposed  the  Baron,  "  that  in  New 
France,  it  will  be  needful  to  secure  the  practical  alli- 
ance of  the  aborigines  with  our  French  rulers,  as  soon 
as  possible,  in  the  absence  of  French  emigration.  And 
this  can  be  soonest  done  by  the  priests;  and  the 
priests  can  succeed  best  by  accommodating  them- 
selves to  the  natives,  meeting  them  halfway,  or  more 
than  half  if  need  be." 

"Exactly,"  answered  the  General,  "we  must  send 
out  influential  Frenchmen  who  will  practically  be- 
come Indians,  in  order  to  become  their  leaders  re- 
ligiously and  in  war.  Then  we  can  hold  the  country 
against  the  English  Protestants." 

"  Tliere  is  one  tribe  of  Indians,  who  will,  I  believe, 
have  much  to  say  about  this  fine  scheme,"  said  the 


-( 


230 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


young  Governor  of  Acadia,  in  a  modest  tone.  "I 
fear  that  the  Iroquois,  —  who  murdered  Father  Bre- 
beuf,  —  will  annihilate  those  tribes  which  we  most 
depend  upon  for  our  influence  in  Canada;  and  if 
the  English  get  a  permanent  footing  in  Canada, 
then  our  Catholic  Acadia  will  be  ground  between 
the  upper  millstone  of  the  English  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  the  lower  millstone  of  the  settlers  in  New 
England,  —  so  that  the  Iroquois  will  ultimately  dis- 
possess the  French  King  and  the  Society  of  Jesus 
together,  and  give  America  to  the  Protestants." 

"  God  avert  it,"  was  the  devout  answer  of  the  Gen- 
eral of  the  Order,  assuming  the  attitude  and  the  tone 
of  prayer. 

The  hour  now  struck,  and  the  Acadian  Governor, 
bade  good  night  to  his  host  and  to  his  Superior;  and 
completed  his  preparations  to  leave  next  day  for  La 
Rochelle. 


1'.       I 


LA  ROCHELLE, 


231 


XXVII. 


LA  ROCHELLE. 


'T^HE  war  news,  and  as  the  gift  of  the  peace  the 
•*•  sight  of  her  own  child,  and  of  the  manly  form 
of  her  hilarious  husband,  who  had  grown  perceptibly 
taller  since  he  had  escaped  from  the  weight  of  moral 
delinquency  heaped  upon  him  by  the  cobbling  theo- 
logians of  the  Bay,  and  which  had  come  so  near 
crushing  not  him  but  his  wife,  —  this  toned  up  the 
heart  of  Constance  as  she  lost  sight  of  her  Sable 
shallop  and  its  precious  burden,  and  found  herself 
alone  again  upon  the  great  deep.  She  thought  of 
her  husband's  great  capacity  for  business,  his  frank- 
hearted,  sunny  ways ;  and  she  thought  of  the  ages  of 
history  in  her  native  France,  in  which  it  had  pleased 
the  All  Father  to  light  by  his  sun  so  great  multitude 
of  men  and  women  of  noble  qualities,  who  certainly 
had  little  spiritual  discernment,  —  if  she  herself  and 
John  Calvin  were  to  judge.  The  mysteries  of  the 
final  Judgment  were  yet  far  off,  and  she  would  not 
burden  her  heart  with  carrying  the  woes  of  to-morrow. 
Committing  her  home  to  the  care  of  God,  she  ceased 
to  carry  it  as  a  care. 


232 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Day  by  day,  week  by  week,  upon  the  summer  sea, 
Constance  was  as  much  at  home  as  the  happy  Sea 
Spray,  which  was  endowed  with  life  like  a  bird  living 
upon  the  salt  waves,  responding  to  every  motion  of  the 
waters  and  the  winds.  The  great  heart  of  the  ocean 
touched  her  own  heart  with  new  life,  and  infinite 
hope  for  the  world.  "  The  sea  is  His,  and  He  made 
it."  Has  He  then  forgotten  the  restless,  heaving,  des- 
olate, expanse  of  human  life,  covering  the  continents, 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea  beds  ?  The  width  of  the 
ocean,  the  presence  of  the  stars,  the  innumerable 
hosts  of  heaven  gleaming  over  the  vast  expanses  of 
the  world  of  water, — suggested  to  the  solitary  voyager 
the  extent  of  the  kingdom  of  Love,  the  shining  array 
of  the  saints  of  all  ages,  and  gave  her  buoyancy  of 
spirit  when  she  left  all  cares  with  the  Infinite 
Friend. 

For  the  most  part,  Constance  did  not  wear  out  her 
days  and  nights  in  seeking  to  govern  the  universe ; 
but  led  a  happy,  joyous  life, — none  the  less  happy 
for  the  carnal  lore  her  husband  had  seized  as  a  war 
prize  from  Charnac^.  When  his  rival  took  to  the 
timber,  La  Tour  could  with  difficulty  hinder  his  men 
from  privately  plundering  the  grounded  ships.  Joe 
had  insisted  upon  taking  as  many  of  Charnacd's  books 
as  he  could  conveniently  bring  away  upon  one  arm, 
for  his  mistress.  So  that  Constance,  in  the  middle 
of  thv.  sea,  had  the  fun  of  laughing  alone  over  the 
same  pages,  which  had  amused  both  her  and  her 
friend  when  Charnacd  first  came  into  possession  of 


LA  ROCHELLE. 


233 


the  books  ten  years  since.  Happily  the  editions  of 
Dante  and  Calvin  in  folio  had  been  too  heavy  for 
Joe's  light  lingers,  and  he  had  left  them  for  Charnacd 
to  console  himself  with.  Her  thoughtful  husband 
had  therefore  brought  to  Constance  only  what  the 
world  in  that  day  considered  its  light  literature. 

Between  the  ocean  tonic  and  the  delightful  conceits 
of  her  books,  Constance  was  in  high  spirits,  when  the 
lone  coast  birds  far  at  sea  told  news  of  the  land. 
Welcome  was  the  hour,  when  the  Sea  Spray  began  to 
feel  the  heavy  swell  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay. 

Making  1°  W.  of  Greenwich,  46°  20'  latitude,  Con- 
stance began,  afar  off,  to  sight  the  low  marshy  mono- 
tonous coast ;  and  rising  above  it  La  Lanterne  still 
standing,  —  so  long  a  light  to  the  Huguenot  mariners, 
and  so  long  a  prison  into  which  were  cast  the  most 
eminent  of  the  Protestant  merchants  in  times  of  reli- 
gious persecution.  Tacking  this  way  and  that  in 
the  outer  harbor,  she  strained  her  eyes  for  the  first 
glimpse  of  the  roof  that  sheltered  her  childhood. 

Entering  the  narrow  passage  to  the  inner  port, 
between  those  honorable  protectors  of  the  Geneva  of 
the  West,  the  forts  La  Chalne  and  St.  Nicholas,  which 
Louis  had  left  standing  after  pulling  down  the  long 
walls  next  the  sea,  she  was  soon  walking  the  narrow 
winding  streets,  appearing  even  then  to  her  a  little 
quaint  after  her  threading  so  long  the  forest  avenues 
of  the  New  World,  —  streets  dark  with  arcades  and 
porches  which  covered  the  walks. 

She  paused  now  and  then  before  some  small  door 


'    234 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


without  ornament,  and  looked  up  to  the  rich  carving 
of  the  upper  stories,  and  remembered  the  elaborate 
architectural  display  within  the  house,  where  perhaps 
one  of  her  father's  old  neighbors  had  lived.  Here 
was  the  house  of  the  merchant  Pierre  Jay ;  there  the 
home  of  Koch  Chastaignier  whose  family  dated  back 
to  the  eleventh  century;  here  lived  Henri  Bau- 
douin  the  Counsellor,  of  a  family  the  most  important 
in  the  history  of  the  city,  and  among  the  first  to 
embrace  the  reformed  faith ;  there  was  the  dwelling 
place  of  Benjamin  Faneuil,  who  had  married  a  rela- 
tive of  Constance,  Marie  the  daughter  of  Andr^ 
Bernon. 

Amid  these  crowding  memories,  the  tears  so  blinded 
her  eyes  that  it  was  long  before  she  could  read  the 
Bible  text,  which  was  inscribed  over  the  doorway  of 
her  old  home :  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world." 

Her  youngest  brother,  then  a  mere  child,  met  her  at 
the  door, — Sieur  Samuel  Bernon,  who  became  a  great 
merchant,  having  enormous  warehouses  in  Quebec ;  ^ 
whose  son  Gabriel  Bernon  emigrated  to  America 
upon  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  — 
uttering  those  memorable  words,  "  I  might  have  re- 
mained in  France,  and  kept  my  property,  my  qua- 
lity, and  my  titles,  if  I  had  been  willing  to  submit 
to  slavery." 

It  was  in  this  house,  that  there  was  held  the  first 
meeting  for  the  reformed  faith  in  La  Rochelle ;  here 
the  nucleus  of  that  great  movement 
^  La  Honton. 


was  gathered 


LA  ROCHELLE. 


-    235 


which  changed  the  face  of  the  city,  and  marked  an 
era  in  the  history  of  the  nation.^ 

When  the  father  of  Constance  had  been  threatened 
by  the  Governor,  he  replied :  — 

"  Sir,  you  would  have  me  lose  my  soul.  Since  it 
is  impossible  for  me  to  believe  what  the  religion  you 
bid  me  embrace,  teaches." 

"  Much  do  I  care,  whether  you  lose  your  soul  or 
not,"  was  the  reply,  "provided  you  obey." 

Falling  early  in  the  siege,  his  body  was  buried  in 
his  own  garden ;  there  reposing  until  the  peace,  —  a 
peace  that  must  have  seemed  worse  than  the  siege  to 
the  Huguenot  population  surviving. 

Not  yet  were  the  very  foundations  of  the  walls  so 
removed  that  the  plow,  alluded  to  in  the  edict  of  the 
King,  could  prepare  the  land  for  tillage.  The  Grand 
Temple  of  which  Henry,  Prince  of  Condd,  laid  the 
corner  stone,  which  had  been  so  long  crowded  with  a 
vast  congregation  of  Calvinistic  worshippers,  was  now 
a  Catholic  cathedral. 

The  city  was  still  a  great  religious  power;  the 
Protestant  faith  losing  little  of  its  grip  upon  the 
commercial  and  moral  world  until  a  generation  later, 
when  the  dormant  cruelties  of  the  decree  of  Louis  XIII. 
we.e  revived,  and  nearly  two  thousand  Huguenots 

^  The  priests  and  monks  were  among  the  first  converts,  — 
1542-8  ;  and  the  nuns  forsook  the  cloisters.  In  1561,  the  priests 
of  St.  Sauveur  began  matins  before  daybreak,  so  as  to  accommodate 
Protestant  worship  in  the  same  church.  For  nearly  fifty  years  fol- 
lowing 1573,  there  was  no  other  worship  in  the  city  than  that  of 
the  Reformers. 


236 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


were  ejected  from  the  city  at  two  weeks'  notice,  — 
thrown  out  into  floods  of  rain,  —  the  aged,  the  babes, 
the  bed-ridden. 

Constance  found  herself  dealing  with  traders  of 
great  wealth,  even  after  the  city  had  lost  its  military 
leadership.  Many  were  enlisted  in  the  fur  trade  and 
the  fisheries,  and  general  shipping-business  of  New 
France.  La  Rochelle  was  still  the  great  shipping 
port  for  the  Atlantic  trade,  —  even  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries sailing  thence.  Hardy  sailors,  and  fierce 
soldiers,  as  well  as  enterprising  tradesmen,  had  their 
homes  in  the  Huguenot  city.  Self-poised,  well-bal- 
anced, accustomed  to  think  for  themselves,  to  act 
promptly  in  matters  religious  or  secular,  they  made 
the  best  of  colonists. 

Almost  a  stranger  in  the  land  of  her  youth,  —  so 
great  the  change  in  the  desolated  city  within  so  brief 
a  period  of  time,  that  it  seemed  to  her  that  ages  had 
elapsed, — Constance  became  the  guest  of  the  Duchess 
de  Rohan,  Catherine  de  Purthenai.  She  it  was  who 
composed  the  tragedy  of  Holofernes,  which  was  rep- 
resented in  the  midst  of  the  first  siege  of  the  city. 
Having  lost  the  principal  part  of  her  fortune  in  the 
recent  disasters,  she  still  held  herself  in  position  to 
rally  those  who  were  true  to  their  convictions  in  the 
changing  times. 

The  house  of  Rohan  was  blessed  with  a  sound 
physique.  The  Duchess  in  advancing  years,  and  her 
daughter  Elizabeth,  little  older  than  Constance,  were 
in  sound  health ;  and  the  shocks,  so  terrible,  of  the 


LA  BOCHELLE, 


237 


change  ia  their  own  home  and  in  their  beloved  city, 
had  told  on  them  little  more  than  the  Atlantic  waves 
liad  told  upon  the  French  coast;  sighs  and  storms 
and  salt  tears  and  woundings  still  left  substantial 
pliysical  and  mental  power  lor  life's  service.  Tliey, 
too,  had  been  preserved  by  their  unfailing  life  within 
the  life,  spirits  easily  rising  above  their  surroundings 
to  commune  with  superior  beings,  seeking  evermore 
the  Supreme  Friend,  and  looking  at  this  world's  af- 
fairs in  a  large  way  as  related  to  ages  and  eternities 
and  the  universe  of  God.  With  them  there  was  a 
present  King  higher  than  Louis  XIII.,  a  Presence 
needing  no  pope,  a  Kevealing  Spirit  not  limited  by 
the  logic  of  Calvin. 

Constance  found  here  all  the  freedom  of  thought 
which  she  had  found  in  her  transatlantic  woods ;  and 
the  house  resounded  with  song  from  morning  till 
night,  as  if  her  myriads  of  Acadian  birds  had  been 
there. 

As  the  weeks  went  by,  and  her  business  had  pros- 
pered, she  sent  away  her  cargo  and  colonists  and  sol- 
diers in  the  Sea  Spray,  and  would  now  go  to  London 
to  complete  her  purchases,  and  return  to  Acadia. 

It  was  in  this  house  of  Rohan,  that  Constance  was 
conscious  of  being  tempted  to  thoughts  of  disloyalty 
toward  Castle  La  Tour.  Not  five  years  had  gone  by 
since  she  left  her  child-hearth;  and  she  had  almost 
grown  old  in  that  time.  Aside  from  the  desolation 
of  her  old  home  the  great  sorrow  in  her  new  home 
—  weighting  her  heart  —  was  the  irreligious  spirit  of 


238 


CONSTANCE  OB'  ACADIA. 


Charles  la  Tour.  Tlie  hollownesa  of  the  Papacy  had 
never  seemed  to  her  so  ghostly  as  now,  —  the  uneasy 
spirit  of  a  dead  faith  filling  the  cathedral,  where  she 
had  worshipped  after  the  Huguenot  method  when 
a  child.  It  niiglit  have  been  the  contrast,  which 
exaggerated  the  faults  of  Home.  And  now  that  her 
judgment  was  ripened,  she  felt  an  indefinable  dread 
that  when  Charles  la  Tour  should  grow  old,  he  would 
be  as  worldly  minded,  as  ungrateful  to  God,  as  grasp- 
ing and  selfish  as  some  of  the  older  citizens,  who  had 
been  neither  Protestants  nor  Papists,  who  had  served 
the  God  of  this  world. 

The  old  phrases  of  the  Huguenot  faith,  she  con- 
stantly heard  in  the  house  of  Eohan.  And  the  clear 
sighted,  kindly,  motherly  Duchess  had  uttered  one 
word,  which  struck  deeply  into  the  heart  of  Constance. 

"Why  did  you  not  marry  that  beautiful  boy  Charles 
de  Menou,  whom  they  now  call  Charnac^,  the  Man  of 
Sin  ?  If  you  had  married  him,  he  would  have  become 
a  Protestant.  Your  mental  and  moral  constitution  is 
stronger  than  his.  You  have  more  body  of  character. 
And  God  woidd  have  used  you,  my  dear,  to  win 
Charles  to  himself." 

The  accents  were  of  the  utmost  tenderness, — such 
as  her  own  mother  had  used,  when  she  urged  Con- 
stance to  marry  according  to  her  heart,  not  according 
to  her  judgment  and  what  was  perhaps  a  mistaken 
view  of  religious  duty,  —  and  they  seemed  to  Con- 
stance like  a  voice  out  of  heaven.  A  voice  was 
awakened  within  the  chambers  of  her  heart, — "Come 


LA  nOCHELLE, 


239 


forth  thou  dead  and  buried  love ;  this  is  the  morning 
of  the  resurrection." 

These  words  were  uttered  at  the  breakfast  table,  of 
that  gray  November  day,  observed  tliroughout  France 
from  time  immemorial  as  the  Day  of  the  Dead;  when 
the  whole  population  goes  forth  to  visit  tombs,  and 
strew  the  memorials  of  affection  upon  their  mounds 
in  the  city  of  the  dead. 

As  she  entered  her  sedan  to  go  to  the  grave  of  her 
mother,  Constance  said  so  distinctly  as  to  startle 
herself:  —  "It  is  my  thought  now,  that  the  apostle 
would  not  advise  young  men  and  maidens  to  seek  to 
be  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers,  or  be  careless 
in  forming  friendships  with  those  who  are  deaf  to  the 
call  of  conscience  and  the  Saviour  of  men ;  yet  on  the 
other  hand,  if  by  long  acquai  itance  their  hearts  are 
drawn  toward  marriage,  they  ought  to  marry,  and 
trust  that  God  will  use  the  believing  wife  or  husband 
to  win  over  the  unbeliever.  Might  it  not  have  been 
wiser,  if  I  had  observed  this  rule,  —  wiser  than  my 
marrying  *  in  the  Lord  *  upon  short  acquaintance  ?  ^ 
And  might  not  my  life  even  in  the  wilderness  have 
been  happier,  more  complete,  more  useful,  if  I  had 
cUmg  solely  to  the  company  of  my  Guardian  Angel 
after  my  brother's  death,  and  been  content  with  the 
abiding  presence  of  the  Heavenly  Bridegroom,  than 
either  to  have  married  out  of  the  Lord,  or  to  have 
married  in  undue  haste  ? " 

The  sedan  had  to  pass  the  house  where  Charles  de 

1  1  Cor.  7-89 ;  2  Cor.  6-14. 


.r-. 


240 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Menou's  mother  died,  when  Constance  was  ten  years 
old.  And  the  pale  but  glorified  features  of  the  dying 
returned  to  her  mind  as  if  in  a  vision.  Constance 
remembered  how  in  her  childish  love,  she  had  tried 
to  kiss  away  the  fast  falling  tears  from  the  cheeks  of 
her  playmate,  who  was  then  like  one  of  her  brothers. 
And  she  recalled  the  long  evenings  in  which  they  had 
studied  together,  before  her  father's  great  open  lire ; 
until  Charles  was  led  by  Palladio  into  other  employ- 
ment for  the  most  of  his  evenings. 

She  recalled  the  dread  day  when  the  Baron  Hercule 
Charuacd,  who  had  been  appointed  the  legal  guardian 
of  the  orphaned  Charles  de  Menou,  came  to  La  Eo- 
chelle  bringing  Palladio.  How  pale  the  Baron  looked. 
She  had  since  heard  that  he  was  at  that  time  very 
ill,  made  so  by  the  death  of  his  young  wife;  that 
for  three  years  his  reason,  if  not  life  itself,  had  been 
endangered  by  his  great  sorrow. 

Kecalling  all  this,  her  early  love  returned  again. 
She  wished  that  she  could  see  Charnacd  once  more. 

In  these  thoughts  she  almost  forgot  the  errand 
upon  which  she  was  going,  until  the  sedan  began  to 
be  jostled  by  the  crowds  of  mourners  entering  the 
gates  of  the  cemetery.  It  seemed  as  if  the  world 
itself  had  left  its  traffic  for  one  day,  and  that  upon 
this  one  day  every  citizen  was  bearing  in  his  arms 
some  token  of  grief. 

Constance  could  not  stay.  It  was  all  too  public, 
although  every  visitor  appeared  to  be  occupied  by  his 
own  mound  of  sacred  earth. 


LA  ROCHELLE. 


241 


She  had  re-entered  her  chair,  which  had  been 
brought  to  the  graveside,  when  she  saw  a  man  kneel- 
ing upon  the  grave  of  Madame  de  Menou;  kissing 
the  sod,  and  forming  upon  the  grave  a  cross  of  costly 
flowers  out  of  season.  It  was  not  far  away.  She  saw 
him  rising  from  the  grave :  it  was  Charnacd. 

Hastily  dropping  her  curtains,  she  asked  her 
bearers  to  move  down  the  path. 

"  Stop,  stop,"  cried  the  voice  in  her  heart. 

"  I  do  not  dare  to  stop,"  answered  Constance.  "  I 
see  a  great  gulf  opening  at  my  feet.  I  do  not  know 
how  deep  it  is,  or  how  wide  it  is." 

"  Can  you  not  trust  yourself  to  wait,  and  watch  for 
him,  and  see  his  face  ? " 

"  I  do  not  dare  to  trust  myself  to-day.  My  heart 
has  gone  back  ten  years." 

"Move  quickly,  and  get  away  from  the  crowd," 
spoke  Constance  in  a  tremulous  tone,  urging  her 
bearers  to  hasten. 

A  breath  from  the  sea  now  veiled  the  streets.  The 
bearers  were  directed  this  way  and  that  through  cross 
streets.  Within  the  hour  Constance  had  bidden  fare- 
well to  the  Eohans,  hoisted  sail,  and  stolen  out  into 
the  Atlantic.  The  weather  was  thick,  but  she  had 
accustomed  herself  to  varying  conditions  upon  the 
Acadian  coast;  so  she  hastened  to  take  advantage 
of  the  wind,  —  which  had  veered  to  the  right  quarter 
just  as  her  bearers  were  leaving  the  cemetery. 

It  was  all  over  now.  The  sea  seemed  to  her 
domestic  and  homelike.     And  when  she  retired  to 

16 


242 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


rest,  rocked  by  the  billows,  she  read,  —  "He  shall 
give  his  angels  charge  concerning  thee.** 

And  when  she  kneeled  to  pray  for  her  husband 
and  her  child,  she  said,  —  "There  is  no  'What  if.' 
Conscious  now  of  chagrins  and  disappointments  in 
my  married  life,  fixed  in  a  yoke  unequal, — it  is  only 
that  I  may  bear  up  under  it  in  a  true  womanly  and 
wifely  way.     May  God  bless  my  home.*' 

Then  in  a  moment,  she  added,  —  "  May  God  bless 
my  early  friend,  Charnac^ ;  and  lead  him,  even  if 
by  strange  paths,  to  find  spiritual  rest.  Is  he  not 
now,  Infinite  Father,  like  a  storm-tossed  bird  up^n 
the  ocean  ?  Oh,  Thou,  without  whom  no  sparrow 
falls,  remember  the  prayers  of  his  dying  mother,  ana 
remember  the  cry  of  his  own  heart  to  be  led  ii?.  Thy 
ways." 


THE  ACADIAN  WREATH. 


r 


jj>. 


243 


XXVIII. 


THE  ACADIAIT  WREATH. 


i^ 


/^^HARNACE,  en  route  for  La  Rochelle,  passed 
^^  through  Orleans,  down  the  Loire  to  Tours, 
athwart  the  tributaries,  the  Cher,  the  Indre  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Creuse,  then  up  the  right  fork  of  the 
Vienne  through  Poitiers.  The  roads  were  very  beau- 
tiful in  the  late  autumn,  which  had  not  parted  with 
all  its  leaves.  The  fine  weather  was  inspiriting. 
Charnac^  recalled  the  memory  of  his  varied  jour- 
neyings  in  his  native  country,  in  former  years.  He 
had  forgotten  how  wonderful  it  all  was,  when  com- 
pared with  monotonous  and  bleak  Acadia. 

His  letters  opened  the  doors  of  hospitality ;  and  he 
made  the  journey  last  as  many  days  as  possible.  All 
France  seemed  to  him  to  rise  in  contrast  with  the 
New  World.  The  rivers ;  the  cultivated  grounds ;  the 
vineland^;  the  church  spires  of  country  towns;  the 
monastery  by  the  waterside ;  a  picturesque  crag  sur- 
mounted by  some  holy  house,  pointed  by  the  cross, 
where  the  devout  were  chanting  songs  to  God  as  if 
in  a  bell  tower ;  honored  cloisters  where  venerated  stu- 
dents, famed  of  the  world,  have  scourged  their  backs  and 
prayed  in  the  hours  of  darkness ;  small  fortified  cities. 


r 


.\  ■ 


244 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


with  buildings  already  old  and  quaint,  and  the  hoar 
0)  centuries  upcn  them ;  orderly  soldiers  at  city  gates, 
or  lined  upon  the  defences;    towers  commanding  a 
wide  area  of  hill,  dale,  forest,  and  stream;   ancient 
houses  hung  with  weapons,  and  the  relics  of  the  wars 
of  many  generations;    massive  fortresses  that  have 
stood  the  shock  of  centuries ;  the  military  homes  of 
feudal  lords  upon  some  shelf  among  mountain  crags 
and  the  wild  eagles ;  the  ruins  of  Eoman  greatness  in 
the  days  of  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  where  one  would 
pause  and  listen  for  the  tramp  of  armies ;  obelisks  in 
the  ornamented  squares  of  the  larger  cities ;  the  me- 
mentos of  the  great  men  of  the  nation ;  cathedrals,  in 
which  a  city  might  meet  upon  the  tesselated  floor  to 
worship  before  the  great  altar,  —  all  this  now  seemed 
new  to  the  hermit  of  Penobscot  Bav,  as  if  he  had 
never  before  seen  it. 

At  Orleans  he  was  attracted  by  Henry  the  Fourth's 
new  cathedral  with  its  towers  of  two  hundred  and 
eighty  feet ;  by  the  house  of  Francis  I. ;  by  that  of 
Agnes  of  Sorel,  and  of  Diana  of  Poitiers.  Twelve 
centuries  had  passed,  since  the  veuerable  city  had 
been  besieged  by  Attila ;  and  it  was  now  more  than 
two  hundred  years  since  it  was  delivered  from  the 
English  siege  by  Joan  of  Arc.  How  strongly  did 
this  countrywoman  remind  him  of  Constance,  whose 
purposes  were  not  less  clearly  defined  than  if  they 
had  been  forced  upon  her  attention  by  St.  Michael 
out  of  heaven;  whose  religious  enthusiasm  had  so 
nearly  swept  him  off  his  ^eet  into  the  Calvinistic 


THE  ACADIAN  WREATH. 


245 


heresy  in  his  youth ;  whose  power  over  him,  even 
now,  was  like  that  exercised  by  the  Holy  Maid 
over  the  wild  birds  and  the  living  creatures  in  the 
forest. 

The  studies  of  Calvin  and  Beza  at  Orleans  awak  • 
ened  in  the  mind  of  Charnace  a  train  of  reflections, 
which  prepared  him  better  to  appreciate  the  Protes 
tant  population  of  Tours,  then  not  far  from  forty 
thousand,^  who  had  grown  up  under  the  very  shadow 
of  the  great  abbey  St.  Martin,  which  had  held  the 
ground  for  more  than  a  thousand  years.  Find- 
ing the  Cathedral  doors  open  for  private  worship, 
Charnac^  entered  the  richly  carved  portals,  gazed  a 
moment  upon  the  flne  windows,  —  then  devoutly 
bowed  at  the  great  altar,  praying  to  the  Father 
who  seeth  in  secret. 

At  Poitiers,  the  Roman  Limoneum,  on  the  Clain, 
he  visited  the  ruins  of  the  vast  amphitheatre  built  by 
men  who  expected  to  hold  their  own  for  ages;  he 
went  to  the  battle  grounds,  where  Clovis  had  defeated 
Alaric,  then  eleven  centuries  since,  and  where  Charles 
Martel  drove  back  the  Saracers  in  A.  D.  732.  The 
steep,  the  crooked,  the  narrow  streets  of  the  city ; 
the  deep  ravines  on  every  side  save  one ;  the  great 
chain  of  hills  reaching  southwest,  —  all  interested 
him,  just  as  they  did  upon  the  day  when  he  first 
saw  it  with  the  BernonS;  in  seaiuhing  out  the  place 

*  The  removal  of  this  manufacturing  population  by  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  inflicted  a  blow  upon  the  prosperity  of  the 
city  from  which  it  has  not  recovered  to  this  day. 


246 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


of  Calvin's  concealment  from  his  enemies,  where  the 
seeds  of  the  Reformation  were  first  sown  in  the  hearts 
of  a  few  young  men  of  promise,  who  bore  the  new  life 
to  La  Rochelle. 

Still  no  siren  song  came  to  Charnac^  from  out 
the  centuries,  bidding  him  distrust  his  Church, 
Grateful  now  to  the  ecclesiastical  soldier  of  Acadia, 
was  the  thought  of  the  motherhood  of  the  Church  of 
God ;  age  after  age  brooding  over  the  civilized  world, 
sheltering  beneath  her  wings  the  poor  and  the  rich, 
and  proclaiming  the  reign  of  God  as  paramount  to 
all  earthly  interests. 

The  mass  of  mankind,  he  reasoned  with  himself 
are  receptive  not  creative ;  they  need  to  lean  hard 
upon  some  great  and  strong  nature  ordained  of 
heaven  to  take  the  responsibility  of  the  earth's  con- 
trol. To  such,  how  great  the  boon  of  the  Church, 
the  authorized  ruler  of  mankind. 

He  could  not  but  remember  the  motherly  kindness 
of  Palladio  in  his  orphaned  boyhood.  His  own  father, 
like  his  uncle,  was  easy  about  his  religion,  not  given 
to  worrying  about  the  morals  of  the  world ;  of  fine 
executive  qualities,  and  ability  as  a  business  man. 
His  mother  was  of  the  noblest,  —  the  most  unselfish 
in  nature,  delicate,  refined,  devout, — but  never  an  in- 
dependent thinker;  they  were,  as  he  reasoned,  both  by 
nature  Catholics,  who  should  have  taken  the  dictum 
of  the  Mother  Church, — although  his  mother  by  early 
influence  had  happened  to  take  the  Bernon  doctrine 
instead  of  the  pope's.    How  nearly  he  came  to  doing 


THE  ACADIAN  WREATH. 


24' 


^! 


that,  himself.  The  Bernons  were  by  nature  kings 
and  queens  of  the  world. 

"  It  is  all  in  the  blood,"  he  said,  thinking  out  loud; 
"  in  the  training.  It  is  not  in  me  to  do  as  Constance 
does.  But  I  thank  God  for  the  faith  I  have  in  the 
Infinite  Love,  whether  administered  through  priests, 
prophets,  apostles,  or  the  saints  living  or  dead, — al- 
ways the  same  love  manifesting  itself  to  those  whose 
hearts  are  sore,  and  who  long  after  some  supreme 
affection." 

His  wandering,  wondering  heart,  —  in  these  de- 
lightful days  of  journeying,  when  a  thousand  mem- 
ories came  back  awakened  by  the  changing  scenery 
of  every  hour,  —  could  not  fail  to  people  the  country, 
through  which  he  passed,  with  his  own  loved  ones. 

"  Of  course,"  he  said,  talking  to  himself,  "  the  an- 
cestors of  Constance  in  the  far  off  generations  were 
all  Catholics ;  and  why  might  not  she  have  been  one, 
also  ?  A  woman  so  capable  as  she,  —  in  some  other 
sphere  than  La  Rochelle  rocked  by  the  war  tempest, 
or  Acadia  in  the  wilderness,  —  would  have  left  grate- 
ful memories  of  herself  upon  the  soil  of  France,  in 
some  uplifting  and  abiding  work  for  the  spiritual 
gain  of  her  nation." 

Nobody  ri^^ing  up  to  deny  this  proposition,  he 
made  another.  "  How  foolish  I  was  to  give  up  Con- 
stance as  my  religious  teacher,  when  I  was  privileged 
to  call  her  my  friend.  With  her  expanding  woman- 
hood, she  might,  under  changed  circumstances,  have 
become  eminent  in  the  Church,  with  her  great  heart. 


1 


248 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


ready  to  mother  the  whole  needy  world.  If  she  were 
here  now,  I  almost  believe  that  I  could  persuade  her 
to  take  charge  of  one  of  these  houses  of  holy  womon 
or  of  orphaned  children." 

lie  even  went  so  far  as  to  select  a  site  for  the 
erection  of  religious  houses  witli  the  fortune  he 
would  bring  from  Acadia.  It  was  a  harmless  mode 
of  amusiijg  his  journey. 

He  wondered  how  Constance  would  greet  him,  if 
he  could  see  her. 

It  never  seemed  to  occur  to  Charnac^,  that  Con- 
stance had  married.  He  considered  La  Tour  a 
nobody. 

When  he  came  so  near  to  his  native  city  as  to 
recognize  familiar  objects,  his  heart  began  to  break 
down.  Charnac^  was,  like  hib  uncle,  of  a  singularly 
sensitive  spirit.  He  saw  now,  that,  in  all  the  city, 
not  one  heart  would  turn  to  him  with  affection.  He 
alone  of  all  the  old  Protestant  families  had  left  the 
faith ;  he  must  go  in  and  go  out,  like  a  stranger. 
With  a  wail,  like  a  man  in  the  lowest  depths  of 
despair,  with  a  heart  hungering  for  human  love 
and  sympathy,  he  cried,  in  low  piercing  tones,  — 
"  Constance  !  Constance ! " 

But  the  Acadian  wilds  were  far  off;  and  there  was 
no  answer. 

He  entered  the  city  upon  the  morning  of  the  Day 
of  the  Dead.  He  had  almost  forgotten  that  there 
was  such  a  day.  Hastening  to  purchase  the  most 
costly  of  flowers,  so  late  in  the  season,  an  early  day 


THE  ACADIAN  WREATH. 


249 


id  there  was 


in  November,  he  joined  the  throngs  entering  the 
burial  place,  —  a  place  made  memorable  by  the 
dust  of  heroes  for  many  generations.  He  easily 
found  his  mother's  grave. 

Charnacd  had  taken  no  time  to  compose  his  mind 
for  visiting  such  a  spot.  He  had  come  in  with  the 
great  throng.  Holding  his  flowers,  at  the  headstone, 
he  thought  how  he  would  divide  them.  He  would 
carry  a  part  to  adorn  the  grave  .)f  Constance's  mother. 
Raising  his  eyes  to  look  for  the  spot,  he  saw  a  figure 
clad  in  deep  mourning,  kneeling  at  the  door  of  the 
well  known  ancient  tomb  of  the  Bernons. 

Charnacd  became  pale  as  the  marble  upon  which 
his  hand  rested,  and  still  as  the  marble.  It  might  be 
some  domestic  friend ;  possibly  Elizabeth  de  Rohan. 
If  it  were  Constance !  He  had  in  his  pocket  the 
order  for  her  arrest.  In  it  she  was  named  as  a 
traitor.  He  had  procured  it  by  a  thousand  lies. 
He  had  in  his  heart  a  thousand  ignominies  to  be 
poured  out  upon  her  Acadian  home.  He  could  not 
cross  this  gulf,  and  speak  to  her,  —  even  if  she  were 
Constance. 

"  The  figure  moved.  It  was  Constance.  He  flung 
himself  upon  his  knees  upon  his  mother's  grave,  and 
tried  with  palsied  fingers  to  arrange  the  flowers. 

When  he  ventured  to  look  again,  she  had  gone. 
He  would  follow ;  but  his  feet  were  like  lead.  He 
had  committed  treason  against  her  in  his  heart,  and 
he  had  no  right  to  follow.  This  saint  of  the  living 
God  stood  upon  the  one  side,  and  he,  —  a  lying,  per- 


250 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


jured  ecclesiastic,  and  no  friend  to  her,  —  stood  upon 
the  other;  and  there  was  a  measureless  abyss  between 
them. 

Then  and  there,  he  took  his  parchment  order  of 
arrest,  and  cut  out  the  name  of  Constance.  But 
what  should  he  do  with  it?  The  name  was  too 
sacred  to  be  mutilated.  "What  a  madman  was  he 
to  have  it  inserted.  He  took  from  next  his  heart  the 
Thomas  k  Kempis,  and  placed  the  name  of  Constance 
in  it.     Now,  what  ? 

He  threw  himself  in  bitter  agony  upon  his  mother's 
grave,  and  poured  out  his  blinding  tears.  "  Have  I 
come  to  this,  0  my  God,  that  there  is  an  unsounded 
depth  morally  between  me  and  my  dead  mother,  and 
between  me  and  the  living  Constance  ? " 

Ho  thought  of  the  infamies  of  his  life,  which  sep- 
arated him  from  the  upright  in  heart. 

Feeling  a  chill  from  the  sea  change,  which  had 
come  into  the  November  day,  he  arose  and  went  to 
the  Bernon  tomb.  He  found  a  wreath  of  Acadian 
feather  flowers ;  made  from  the  brilliant  tints  of 
humming  birds  and  variegated  plumage  of  songsters 
and  waterfowl.  Attached  to  it  he  saw  a  card,  in* 
the  handwriting  of  Constance :  —  "  Many  children  of 
the  Souriquois,  who  owe  their  spiritual  life  to  my 
mother's  teaching,  send  this  gift  with  their  gratitude, 
by  Constance." 

Should  he  cut  off  the  card,  and  rob  the  dead  ?  He 
could  not  do  that. 

Pressing  the  card  to  his  lips,  he  kneeled,  and 


THE  ACADIAN  WREATH.       ,..^       261 

'       ■  (i 

prayed,  —  "  God  forgive  me  for  being  untrue  to  Con- 
stance even  in  my  thought ;  and  make  me  such,  that 
I  may  be  willing  to  meet  her." 

He  timidly  found  his  way  that  night  to  the  house 
of  Eohan,  wondering  whether  the  Guardian  Angel  of 
Constance  would  stand  at  the  door  with  a  drawn 
sword.  He  was  met  by  Elizabeth,  the  comely 
daughter  of  the  house.  A  cordial  welcome  was  ex- 
tended to  him  by  the  Duchess.  Constance  had 
never  breathed  a  word  in  the  house,  of  the  course 
taken  by  Charnac^  in  Acadia  against  the  peace  of 
her  home ;  so  that  the  Duchess  and  her  daughter 
talked  with  him,  as  if  he  and  Constance  were  on  the 
same  plane  as  years  ago,  save  that  Constance  had 
married.  Charaacd  had  no  heart  to  stay;  every 
word  they  spok^  cut  him  to  the  quick.  He  made 
no  inquiry  for  Constance;  but  they  spoke  of  her 
sudden  departure,  —  she  had  been  waiting  only  for 
the  wind  to  change. 

He  returned  to  the  Bernon  tomb  next  morning, 
and  cut  off  the  card ;  and  put  it  into  his  Thomas  k 
Kempis,  where  it  was  found  after  his  death,  by  Joe 
Takouchin,  —  and  it  was  buried  with  him. 


•  K 


252 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


XXTX. 

BARON  CHARNACE. 

"  i  ''HERE  are  few  stories  of  domestic  life  in  France 
-^  so  pathetic  as  that  of  the  brief  married  life,  fol- 
lowed by  overwhelming  grief,  of  the  Baron  Hercule 
Charnac(5.  His  only  consolation  in  a  world  emptied 
by  the  hand  of  death  was  to  fill  the  world  with  the 
fame  of  his  country.  Pre-eminent  for  purity  of  life, 
and  his  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of  nations  and  those 
principles  which  underlie  statecraft,  he  was  little  dis- 
turbed by  the  contending  religious  factions  of  his  age, 
preferring  to  satisfy  his  own  conscience  and  make  his 
peace  with  God  in  his  own  way.  As  very  rarely 
a  communicant,  upon  such  occasions  as  were  made 
sacred  to  him  by  the  memory  of  his  sainted  dead, 
he  won  the  approval  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities, 
and  silently  pursued  his  private  studies  when  not 
engaged  in  his  diplomatic  calling. 

Taking  great  pleasure  in  the  company  of  his 
nephew,  his  ward,  whom  he  had  made  his  heir, 
and  who  promised  so  well  to  honor  their  ancient 
house,  he  urged  the  younger  Charnac^  to  winter  in 
Paris;  the  business  in  hand  requiring  time,  and  an 


BARON  CHARNAC&. 


253 


acquaintance  with  leading  men  being  of  prospective 
advantage. 

To  the  younger  Charnac^  his  spirited  Comedy  gave 
the  recognition  of  those  lettered  men,  who  had  been 
formed  into  The  Academy  by  scholarly  Richelieu. 
And  he  pursued  special  studies  under  the  direction 
of  the  learned  men  of  tlie  Benedictine  community; 
and  gave  nmch  time  to  history  and  politics,  under 
the  guidance  of  his  uncle. 

Fascinated  by  the  genius  of  Ri(  lelieu,  he  sought  to 
forward  the  views  of  this  mast;  r  by  securing  the  as- 
sent of  the  papal  authorM  :.  to  settle  ti  a  Huguenot 
question  by  a  fair  discuosion,  so  hoping  at  least  to 
win  some  by  reason.  In  advancing  this  end  he  was 
commissioned  to  negotiate  \vith  Urban  VIII.,  unhap- 
pily without  effect ;  the  leading  ecclesiastics  of  France 
being  opposed  to  it. 

In  another  way,  however,  the  Acadian  Governor 
was  of  service,  —  that  of  securing  for  the  army  men 
eminent  among  the  Protestants.  By  this  means  the 
chagrins  of  La  - >'or;helle  were  diminished ;  and  France 
as  a  nation  had  the  ability  of  her  noblest  sons,  native 
and  adopted.  This  could  not  but  have  had,  although 
unknown  to  himself  at  the  time,  the  happiest  influ- 
ence upon  the  character  of  Charnac^. 

Who  could  even  for  a  moment  be  brought  into 
contact  with  Marshal  Gession  without  being  made 
the  better  for  it  ?  Said  the  fierce  fighter  to  an  offi- 
cer, who  thought  an  enterprise  impracticable,  —  "I 
have  that  in  my  head,  and  at  my  side,  all  that  is 


mi 


254 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


requisite  for  victory."  His  sword  being  able  to  do 
all  that  his  brain  prompted.  To  Richelieu  he  said, — 
"  I  will  serve  you  in  everything,  except  in  that  which 
is  underhanded."  "  This  may  hinder  your  promotion 
but  it  will  not  hinder  my  esteem,"  was  the  regal  reply. 

Greater  still  was  his  good  fortune  in  securing, 
through  letters  from  his  uncle,  the  service  to  France 
of  Marshal  Eautzau ;  who,  by  the  proverb,  was  shot 
everywhere  except  in  his  heart,  —  who  carried  to  a 
peaceful  grave  one  eye,  one  arm,  one  leg,  and  sixty 
honorable  wounds. 

The  liberal  views  entertained  by  the  Baron,  of  the 
practical  working  of  Protestantism  in  affecting  favor- 
ably the  public  morals,  as  seen  by  him  at  Geneva  and 
in  Sweden,  were  not  without  weight  with  the  younger 
Charnac^ ;  who  was  as  hospitable  as  his  uncle  to  new 
views,  and,  like  him,  easily  took  on  the  color  of  his 
immediate  surroundings.  The  character  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  as  delineated  by  the  ambassador,  bore  fruit 
in  Acadia.  The  greatness  of  his  military  genius ;  his 
personal  bravery,  without  passion,  without  cruelty, 
never  ungenerous  to  a  foe;  his  even  balance;  his 
practical  wisdom;  his  simple  and  almost  faultless 
character,  —  made  him  a  peer  in  the  house  of  that 
divine  order  of  nobility  which  numbers  so  few  in  all 
countries  and  all  ages.  That  he,  being  such  a  man, 
planted  himself  so  squarely  upon  his  clear  under- 
standing of  the  Word  of  God,  commended  to  Baron 
Charnacd  the  Protestant  faith,  more  than  could  have 
been  done  by  cartloads  of  Calvinistic  Institutes. 


BABON  C EARN  ACE. 


255 


It  was  when  the  Baron  one  morning  gave  to  his 
nephew  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures,  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  the  Swedish  King,  that  a  conversation 
ensued  touching  young  Charnace's  early  life.  Charles 
of  La  llochelle  has  spoken  of  the  motto  still  lettered 
upon  the  door  casements  of  his  mother's  house 
"Search  the  Scriptures;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye 
have  eternal  life." 

"  You  rejected  the  crudities  of  Calvinism,  only  to 
accept  the  crudities  of  a  Spanish  soldier,"  —  said 
Charuacd  the  elder. 

"I  did  it,  sir,"  replied  the  nephew,  "under  the 
instruction  of  the  teacher  provided  by  my  guardian 
in  my  tender  years." 

"I  made  a  great  mistake,"  was  the  answer,  "for 
which  I  offer  to  you  as  a  mt.n,  the  apology  due  for 
the  practical  misdirection  which  I  gave  you  as  a  boy. 
The  Jesuits  then  most  easily  furnished  private 
teachers  of  great  ability  as  well  as  fine  scholarship. 
And  with  the  Jesuits  was  hidden  the  key  of  political 
promotion.  I  thought  to  serve  you,  not  to  hamper 
you.  Would  you  not  do  wisely  to  cut  clear  of  your 
Superior  forever,  in  respect  to  what  you  call  your 
voluntary  obedience  ? " 

"What  then  would  become  of  my  promotion,  as 
you  are  pleased  to  call  it?  Only  yesterday  the 
General  of  the  Society  was  pleased  to  urge  upon 
me  priestly  vows,  in  order  that  I  might  be  placed 
in  charge  of  the  Order  in  America;  it  being  proposed 
now  to  enlarge  the  work." 


-«~«^^«- 


256 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


I  trust  give  him  an  evasive  answer. 


"You  will 

Defer  your  decision  until  your  Acadian  business 
turns  to  vour  mind.  It  will  not  then  be  too  late,  if 
civil  position  does  not  offer." 

"There  is  little  safety  in  delaying  obedience  to 
one's  Superior,  unless  one  throws  up  the  system 
altogether,"  returned  the  Acadian. 

"You  can  suitably  deceive  him  in  your  own  in- 
terest," answered  the  diplomatist.  "You  are  not 
bound  to  speak  the  truth  to  him,  except  in  matters 
of  common  interest.  He  does  not  expect  you  to  do 
it.  Your  own  interest  is  personal,  yours ;  the  Order 
has  not  just  claim  upon  it.  You  will  never  reach  the 
highest  position  in  the  State,  unless  you  use  the  Or- 
der; do  not  allow  it  to  use  you,  except  at  your 
convenience." 

"  I  have  noticed,"  said  the  nephew,  "  that  the  Car- 
dinal protects  the  Jesuits  rather  than  seeks  their 
protection;  puts  forward  the  Franciscans;  leagues 
with  Lutherans;  takes  nations  out  of  the  Catholic 
League  which  the  Pope  is  trying  to  tie  together,  — 
in  short  he  acts  like  a  man  not  a  tool." 

"Yes,"  was  the  answer,  "he  uses,  in  fact,  his  re- 
ligious position  to  aid  his  political  movements ;  and 
makes  all  Europe  tributary  to  the  upbuilding  of  his 
own  individual  thought  and  plan.  He  has  boldly 
said  to  the  Pope,  that  France  can  never  be  the  el- 
dest son  of  the  Church,  unless  first  of  all  there  is  a 
France,  respected  by  Europe ;  and  how  to  make 
France  respected,  he  must  be  the  judge,  not  the 


BARON  CHARNACE. 


257 


Pope.  But  he  could  never  compass  his  end,  if  he 
had  not  the  qualities  of  a  diplomatist  of  the  highest 
rank, — as  well  as  the  position  of  prime  minister,  and 
paramount  influence  in  the  Church.  He  works  be- 
low the  surface,  concealing  his  methods,  moving  as 
secretly  as  the  hidden  cause  of  the  lightning,  or  the 
earthquake,  or  the  principle  of  life  in  all  growing 
things." 

To  his  uncle,  Charnacd  unbosomed  all  his  secret 
life,  —  his  love  for  Constance.  There  could  be  no 
more  profound  f.nd  tender  sympathy  than  that  of 
him,  whose  home  had  been  so  much  to  him  that  his 
life  was  blighted  all  his  years,  when  it  was  destroyed 
by  death.  The  nephew  was  urged  to  establish  his 
worldly  ambitions  upon  the  basis  of  a  home,  to  aban- 
don all  possible  dreams  of  priestly  solitude. 

"Our  family  stock,"  said  the  Baron,  ''is  so  con- 
stituted that  we  all  yearn  with  an  unspeakable  long- 
ing for  the  felicities  of  domestic  life.  We  are  not 
made  for  priests,  to  wed  the  Church.  The  holy 
evangel  can  never  train  men,  unless  thev:-  -ire  men 
to  train.  We  must  have  full  and  finely  developed 
manhood;  and  there  is  no  fair  proportion  to  life 
without  the  inspiration  of  noble  women.  Mere  me- 
chanical obedience  to  an  ecclesiastical  power,  which 
is  to  do  ail  the  thinking  and  all  the  acting  for  all  the 
world,  without  one  iota  of  personal  responsibility  on 
the  part  of  any  man  save  to  obey  a  Superior, — would 
ruin  the  world,  and  make  manliness  impossible.  I 
hope,  my  dear  sir,  that  you  will  get  out  of  the  ma- 

17 


258 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


was  so  thoughtless  as 


chine,  within  whose  grasp  I 
to  place  you.  Then  marry.  The  motherhood  of 
the  Church  is  good ;  but  you  want  a  wifa  You 
are  incomplete  without  a  home." 

All  this  was  said  in  a  tender,  subdued  tone,  as  of 
one  voicing  a  great  sorrow ;  and  the  Baron  arose  from 
the  table,  and  sought  seclusion  for  the  remainder  of 
tht'.  day. 

The  Acadian  loan  was,  after  many  delays,  effected 
"With  Emmanuel  Le  Borgue  of  La  Eochelle ;  to  whom 
"was  given  as  security  an  area  half  as  large  as  France, 
—  no  small  part  of  which  was  owned  by  La  Tour 
and  the  Scotch,  and  nobody  knew  who  would  claim 
it  before  Le  Borgue's  money  might  be  due.  He 
advanced,  first  and  last  an  enormous  amount  for  such 
security.  The  transactions  were  completed  at  the 
Baron's  house,  16  Eue  de  Grenelle,  which  is  described 
in  the  papers  as  the  house  which  has  for  a  sign  the 
flcur  de  lys,  near  the  olive  tree.^ 

The  legal  transfer  of  the  M.  Eazilly  property  to 
Charnac^  appears  to  have  been  made  at  the  same 
time ;  the  acknowledgment  being  before  Messieurs 
Platrier  and  Chappelin,  Notaries. 

It  was  one  of  the  felicities  enjoyed  by  Charnacd 
that  he  belonged  to  a  spy  system  which  wired  the 
world  before  telegraphs,  reaching  every  part  of  the 
civilized  and  no  small  part  of  the  barbaric  world,  — 
the  system  of  Loyola.  By  this  he  kept  himself 
informed  of  the  doings  of  Constance,  as  she  was 

1  Murdoch's  Nova  Scotia,  I.  96,  97, 


BARON  CHARNACE. 


259 


y  property  to 
at  the  same 
ore  Messieurs 


completing  her  purchases  in  London;  and  he  learned, 
when  too  late  to  intercept  her,  of  her  contract  with 
Captain  Bayley  master  of  the  Dolphin,  one  of  Alder- 
man Berkly's  ships,  to  transport  her  and  her  freight 
to  St.  John. 

Charnacd's  return  voyage  to  Acadia  was  to  he  in  a 
government  ship,  the  St.  Francis ;  whose  commander 
would  bear  La  Tour  as  prisoner  of  State  to  France. 
After  long  delays  he  made  ready;  and  embarked 
from  the  port  of  the  Associates  in  Morbihan,  some 
four  months  later  than  the  sailing  of  Constance. 


t.ii'g.l 


'■■■    Ai 


I    ; 


2C0 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


THi:  l\tIDDLE  O-   THE  SEA. 


A  SEA  voyagb  suited  the  mood  of  Charnac^, 
after  his  life  in  Paris.  He  had  become  almost 
as  eager  to  return  to  Acadia  as  he  had  been  to  leave 
j't.  The  great  city  seemed  far  off,  and  its  citizens 
lonely,  upon  the  first  morning  after  the  shores  of 
France  had  gone  down  behind  the  horizon.  He  found 
that  his  individuality  had  been  favored  by  America. 
When  alone  he  sought  to  imitate  his  ideal,  not  pat- 
tern after  a  neighbor  who  might  be  small  or  great. 

He  easily  adjusted  himself  to  se"  -'^ing  ways,  and 
kept  watch  with  the  officers  ;  not  for  serving  the  ship 
but  for  serving  himself.  With  the  close  habits  of  a 
student,  he  observed  regular  seasons  for  thinking  over 
his  reading,  and  for  self  comm  anion  ;  the  dog  watch 
of  sunrise  or  sunset,  the  long  hours  before  midnight, 
and  sometimes  four  small  hours  of  the  morning. 
His  deck-walkiD'^;  in  all  weathers  was  oI'teD  ?ike 
being  alone  in  A.  ■'■■  iia. 

Perhaps  he  '3  -ed  his  calling,  and  should  have 
been  a  po^  .  :e  had  that  sympathetic  power  by 
which  he  ocdd  throw  himself  inli  the  situation  of 


p''  «? 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  HEA. 


261 


anothpx*;  and  rhetorical  equipment  by  which  to  ex- 
press another's  life.  Often  he  had  amused  himself 
in  this  way.  In  Acadia,  Charnacd  had  learned,  at 
times,  to  feel  as  the  savages  did,  to  think  as  they" 
thought ;  in  Paris,  he  occasionally  imagined  himself, 
for  the  hour,  in  place  of  Richelieu,  or  the  General  of 
his  Order ;  in  Kome  he  fancied  what  might  be  the 
interior  life  of  Urban. 

It  came  to  him  when  floating  upon  the  St.  Francis, 
a  mere  chip  upon  the  ocean,  —  why  not  for  some 
days  and  nights  imagine  myself  to  be  Constance  ? 
It  would  be  next  to  having  her  companionship ; 
and  at  least  he  would  understand  her  better.  Per- 
haps it  was  a  strange  and  unwarrantable  notion. 
And  what  he  might  think  would  be  doubtless  as 
little  like  her,  as  if  he  were  to  fancy  himself  stand- 
ing in  the  place  of  Ariel  in  the  sun.  Still,  the 
thought  pleased  him.  It  would  be  not  unlike  in- 
venting, for  his  own  private  sight,  a  play  of  Con- 
stance, in  which  she  would  figure  as  the  principal 
character. 

Night  was  spreading  over  the  face  of  the  deep,  and 
the  stars  were  coming  out,  and  the  surface  of  the 
waters  was  becoming  dark,  —  when  this  idea  of  per- 
sonating Constance  first  occurred  to  him,  after  he  had 
been  some  wee'iuS  at  sea. 

He  had  at  once  a  strong  feeling  of  isolation. 
Sure] .' there  was  but  one  Constance;  and  she  must 
have  an  abiding  seiiso  oi  being  alone,  as  if  upon  a 
small  craft  in.  a  great  ocean,  or  in  a  slight  shelter 


■K 


262 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


embosomed  in  a  forest  covering  a  hemisphere,  or  a 
snow  hut  in  the  frozen  north,  —  living  alone  with  her 
Guardian  Angel. 

This  would  never  do ;  he  could  not  easily  imagine 
himself  —  with  all  his  longing  for  a  home  —  as  so 
situated.  He  gazed  long  and  dreamily  upon  the 
phosphorescent  light  in  the  wake  of  the  ship,  or 
went  to  the  prow  to  see  the  lights  dash  up  out  of 
the  sea  in  the  little  waves  tossed  from  the  bows. 
He  even  thought  to  take  the  place  of  the  figure- 
head, St.  Francis,  and  stand  in  his  place,  —  as  Con- 
stance in  lonely  watch  over  the  paths  of  ocean. 

When  his  watch  was  over,  he  saw  before  retiring 
the  Bible,  which  his  uncle  had  given  to  him  as  a 
memento  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  having  in  it  the 
King's  autograph.  Did  Constance  ever  close  the  day 
without  her  Bible  ?  With  sleepy  eyes  he  opened  the 
lid.  He  saw  the  phrase,  in  his  uncle's  handwriting, 
"  Look  to  this  as  yocr  Superior." 

He  had  read  the  Bible  to  controvert,  read  it  as  a 
theologian,  read  it  for  the  literature;  but  the  next 
morning  he  read,  as  Constance  would  do,  —  for  spirit- 
ual direction.  It  could  not,  he  reasoned,  be  trifling 
with  sacred  things,  if  in  his  imaginative  humor  he 
should  hold  his  mind  open  to  receive  the  Word  as  a 
conclusive  moral  authority,  as  Constance  would  do. 

Taking  a  turn  upon  deck  at  noon  he  saw  a  solitary 
sail  upon  the  horizon,  the  only  one  sighted  in  tbp, 
whole  voyage  except  on  either  coast.  Turning  h^s 
eyes  away  for  a  moment,  the  shij    disappearea  as 


#% 


THE   MIDDLE  OF  THE  SEA. 


263 


completely  as  if  she  had  gone  down.  A  slight  mist, 
80  far  away  as  not  to  be  noticed,  had  intervened. 
To  Charnacd  it  brought  to  mmd  the  suddenness 
with  which  he  had  lost  sight  of  Constance  at  La 
Eochelle.  It  was  perhaps  her  fate,  perliaps  his,  to 
be  alone;  and  how  soon  might  they  both  be  veiled 
from  all  earthly  sight,  and  sleep  in  graves  which  were 
already  waiting. 

When  he  began  his  deck  watch  from  eight  to 
twelve,  the  wind  was  dropping.  The  St.  Francis  very 
sluggishly  responded  to  what  little  air  there  was  ;  so 
that  Charnacd,  —  who  imagined  himself  to  be  a  little 
sensitive  to  the  heat  of  the  day  which  continued 
after  sundown,  —  was  glad  like  a  woman  to  stand  in 
draughts  made  by  the  can, as.  It  may  have  been  in 
the  spirit  of  Constance  that  felt  that  night,  as 
never  before,  the  mysterious  silence  of  the  sea.  The 
air  was  too  still  to  bring  a  sound  from  the  rigging, 
and  the  sea  too  still  to  awaken  creaking  and  moan- 
ing among  the  timbers.  The  waves  were  asleep,  i*nd 
the  sails  idle.  Forward,  the  low  voices  of  the  sea- 
men w^ere  soon  hushed.  It  may  be  that  the  rough 
forecastle  hands  were  av"^''  ^y  an  unusual  presence, 
as  if  Constance  were  upuh  the  man-of-war.  There 
was  no  need  of  an  officer's  footfall,  so  that  Char- 
nacd  or  Constance  heard  no  sound  save  the  ship's 
bell. 

He  kept  a  double  watch ;  and  gave  the  entire 
night  to  reflection  upon  his  studies  of  the  day.  It 
was  apparent  that  the  Bible  was  addressed  to  every 


^    Vji^w 


264 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


man  alone ;  God  revealinf?  himself  to  the  individual, 
and  holding  each  man  to  an  account  for  himself. 

He  thought  over  the  points  in  his  own  career,  and 
his  plans  for  the  future.  His  own  isolation  bore  wit- 
ness ^'''♦^^  the  Scriptures,  that  he  must  make  his  own 
destiny.  The  individuality  of  the  Bible  phrases 
made  a  great  impression  upon  his  mind.  "The 
God  with  wliom  we  have  to  do,"  he  said  to  himself, 
"  must  be  the  God  of  Constance.  Her  Superior  is 
the  Supreme.  With  Him,  she  is  ready  to  die  alone, 
and  to  go  forward  to  the  Judgment  alor';.  She  needs 
no  priest,  save  tlie  Son  of  Man." 

"How  delightful  it  is,"  he  added,  as  if  he  were 
Constance,  "  that  He  "  ^  called  the  ^on  of  Man,  at 
no  great  remove  from  the  sinning  •  td  sorrow  ugj 
and  that  we  can  go  straight  to  him,  —  v.  ithout  Alary, 
or  a  Saint,  or  a  Vicar." 

"This  never  will  do,"  said  the  solitary  wat el i  nan, 
as  he  heard  the  step  of  the  second  officer,  anc  saw 
him  look  aloft.  The  wind  was  beginning  to  draw  a 
little  abaft  the  port  beam.  "But  why  will  it  not 
do  ?  Have  I  no  right  to  think  for  myself  ?  Is  not 
my  will  free  t  Is  not  my  conscience  individual  ?  In 
all  earthly  busineod  I  decide  for  myself,  why  not  in 
Mie  ttifairs  of  my  soul  ?     Why  may  I  not  receive  here 

thf  good  ship  St.  Francis  a  new  revelation,  as  prop- 
erly as  Loyola  in  the  cave  of  Manresa  ?  Henceforth, 
I  will  call  no  man  master.  One  is  my  Master,  even 
Christ." 

The  next  afternoon,  however,  after  his  long  sleep. 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  8EA, 


265 


sorro'"^    ig; 


he  was  timid.  "I  am  going,"  he  said,  "too  far.  I 
will  no  longer  play  the  part  of  Constance.  But  her 
life  is  world  wide  from  mine,  if  she  accepts  this  Book 
as  it  is,  without  priestly  comment." 

It  was  one  of  those  days  which  make  a  sailor's 
heart  glad ;  and  he  imagined  himself  for  the  two 
hours,  in  which  he  strode  the  deck,  to  be  none  other 
than  Gilberto  the  boatswain,  of  simple  faith,  and  of 
dutiful  love  for  his  toil  upon  the  high  seas.  It  was 
blowing  very  fresh,  the  canvas  was  stretching  to  the 
breeze,  St.  Francis  was  rushing  through  the  water,  as 
eagerly  as  the  original  saint  hastened  to  seek  martyr- 
dom among  the  Turks.  The  sun  had  begun  to  weaken 
early  in  the  afternoon,  peering  out  dimly  upon  the 
gathering  storm.  The  surface  of  the  sea  was  rugged. 
After  nightfall,  it  was  of  inky  blackness.  The  ship 
was  moving  at  a  great  pace.  Charnacd  turned  in,  to 
the  music  of  water  bubbling  through  the  starboard 
scuppers. 

True  to  Gilberto's  character,  Charnac^  prayed  to 
various  respectable  Italian  Saints;  and,  in  his  dreams, 
he  again  walked  the  streets  of  Eome,  and  he  attended 
service  at  St.  Peter's. 

For  his  next  morning  studies,  he  turned,  alter- 
nately, to  Loyola's  Letter  on  Obedience,  and  to  the 
Swedish  King's  Bible ;  having  returned  to  his  fancy, 
that  Constance  was  there  studying  in  his  place. 
"Obedience  to  whom?"  he  asked,  just  as  he  was 
called  to  his  mess  table.  "  To  God.  I  find  no  Bible 
rule  by  which  all  interpretation  is  to  be  shifted  oft" 


266 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


upon  another.  If  I  do  not  obliterate  the  Word  of 
God  and  get  on  without  it,  —  I  must  decide  for  ray- 
self  what  it  means,  as  I  make  my  decisions  indepen- 
dently in  secular  afl'airs." 

The  evening  watch  in  the  long  late  hours,  found 
the  ship  pitcliing  a  good  deal,  as  Charnacd  walked 
the  deck.  The  waves  were  heavier,  the  sky  was 
thick,  the  wind  half  a  gale.  "  There  can  be  no 
middle  ground,"  he  said,  having  by  some  effort 
imagined  Constance  exercising  in  the  wind  on 
deck,  —  as  indeed  she  might  be,  for  aught  he  knew, 
in  some  other  part  of  the  wide  ocean.  "  Either  God 
is  manifest  now  to  every  disciple,  as  to  those  in  the 
Gospel  stcx'y,  or  He  is  not.  If  He  is  not,  then  we 
need  a  Vicar;  if  He  is,  then  we  do  not  need  a 
Vicar." 

He  listened  to  the  creaking  of  the  spars,  and  the 
roaring  of  the  wind  on  high;  and  heard  the  men 
stumbling  along  the  deck,  in  obeying  the  orders  of 
the  first  officer.  He  looked  astern  at  the  seething 
foam,  the  only  light  in  the  great  darkness,  —  and 
said,  "  Good  night,  Constance." 

"  In  any  event,"  he  though  t^^  to  himself,  going  down 
the  companion  way,  "the  course  pursued  by  Con- 
stance seems  more  reasonable,  when  I  imagine  my- 
self in  her  place.  I  do  not  see  how  she  can  do 
otherwise  and  be  loyal  to  her  God.  And  if  she 
really  seeks  the  guidance  of  the  Divine  Spirit  to 
interpret  to  her  the  Word,  as  she  used  to  say,  and 
as  I  find  hei  directed  to  do  in  the  Word  itself,  she 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SEA, 


267 


is  probably  as  near  right  as  she  can  be  outside  the 
pale  of  the  true  Cliurch." 

The  next  walk,  by  day,  Charnac^  tried  to  place 
himself  in  imagiuative  sympathy  with  Francisco 
Brogi,  whom  he  had  detested  at  sight,  who  was 
nevertheless  —  as  a  special  favor  to  his  old  con- 
fessor Arrighi  —  to  be  one  of  his  own  military 
household.  He  was  an  Italian  officer;  who  had 
won  a  great  reputation  in  Portugal,  in  aiding  John, 
duke  of  Braganza  to  recover  his  kingdom.  Having 
never  been  upon  a  long  voyage  before,  he  was  now 
thoroughly  sea-sick,  and  nearly  dead,  as  he  expressed 
it.  This  tickled  the  risibles  of  Charnacd,  who  con- 
jured up  all  sorts  of  odd  contrasts,  between  the 
famous  fights  General  Brogi  had  been  in,  and  his 
present  condition.  He  fancied  the  terror  produced 
in  Brogi's  mind  by  the  sight  of  the  hilly  horizon, 
and  the  foaming  succession  of  waves ;  by  the  boom- 
ing of  the  seas  against  the  bows  of  the  ship ;  by  the 
howling  of  the  wind;  by  the  shaking  of  the  sails ; 
by  the  clanking  of  the  chain  sheets ;  by  the  plung- 
ing of  the  vessel;  by  the  seas  shipped  over  the 
bulwarks. 

Suddenly  he  lost  his  cue,  and  said  —  to  the  face  of 
the  wind  —  "  Even  Constance  would  beat  him  for  a 
sailor,  —  perhaps  as  a  soldier." 

The  occupation  of  Charnacd  had  been  serious  as 
well  as  amusing.  He  had  desired  to  see  things  from 
the  stand  point  occupied  by  Constance.  And  now 
he  was  more  than  ever  persuaded,  that  the  universal 


268 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


harmonies  demanded  their  union  even  in  this  life. 
He  must  have  a  home.  He  was  done  with  the 
Church,  as  a  profession. 

Now  in  these  wild  hours  of  storm  he  was  exhila- 
rated, and  lifted  above  himself;  and  as  he  had  often 
walked  with  Constance  upon  the  fortifications  of  La 
Eochelle  when  they  were  children  together,  to  watch 
the  violence  of  the  sea  and  the  curling  crests,  when 
the  Atlantic  broke,  shock  on  shock,  against  the  im- 
movable battlements,  so  now  he  imagined  that  she 
was  with  him,  hand  in  hand,  outlooking  upon  the 
illimitable  drifts  of  foam  white  as  the  snows  of 
Acadia,  or  listening  in  strange  glee  to  the  heavy 
flapping  of  the  canvas  and  the  rigging  screeching 
in  the  gale. 

"Perhaps  Constance  is  praying  for  me  at  this 
moment,"  said  Charnac^,  as  a  heavy  thud  —  like  an 
iron  billow  —  struck  the  bows  of  the  ship. 

When  he  still  keeping  to  his  usual  thoughts 
opened  his  Bible,  later  in  the  day,  he  stumbled 
upon  a  passage  that  threw  light  upon  the  duty  of 
a  married  woman,  as  Constance  must  understand  it. 
He  searched,  and  satisfied  himself  of  how  she  must  feel, 
or  was  bound  by  her  Book  to  feel  toward  him.  He 
carried  the  Book  on  deck,  and  flung  it  into  the  boil- 
ing sea.  "With  her  fanaticism,"  he  said,  "she  may 
think  it  her  religious  duty  never  even  to  see  me. 
Shall  I  be  separated  from  her  forever,  without  one 
word?" 

And  he  listened  gladly  to  the  sullen  thunder  of 


THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  SEA. 


269 


the  sea  striking  the  St.  Francis.  He  gazed  upon 
the  desolate  gloom  of  the  ocean  around  him.  The 
straining  timber  of  the  ship  was  music  to  his  ears. 
Charnac4  had  felt  annoyed  with  himself,  that  he  had 
been  so  near  Constance,  and  yet  so  far  from  her,  at 
his  mother's  grave.  He  ought  to  have  spoken  to  her ; 
even  if  his  own  wickedness  had  startled  the  dead. 
"Perhaps,"  he  thought,  "she  saw  me;  and  would 
net  speak  to  me.  She  may  have  distrusted  me. 
My  love  could  not  have  been  known  to  her,  I 
will  see  her ;  and  show  her  my  heart,  my  repentance 
toward  her  and  my  God." 

He  could  not  sleep,  he  would  not  sleep.  His  heart 
complained  louder  than  the  groaning  ship.  Would 
it  not  have  been  better  if  he  had  chosen  his  portion 
with  the  fat  and  oiled  priests  he  saw  in  Paris,  who 
had  been  his  schoolmates  ?  Alas  for  him,  he  said, 
that  he  had  a  conscience, — that  he  could  not  do  as 
they  did. 

Past  midnight  the  clouds  were  torn  by  the  chang- 
ing wind,  as  it  cross-plowed  the  skies.  The  rising 
and  falling  of  the  ship  amid  the  thumping  seas ;  the 
appearance  of  the  planets ;  the  paling  of  the  stars  be- 
fore the  moon  slowly  rising  from  the  deep ;  the  sheen 
of  the  low  satellite  upon  the  troubled  waters  j  the 
skurrying  clouds ;  the  struggling  light  of  the  dawn 
faintly  appearing,  —  all  awakened  in  the  heart  of  the 
lonely  watcher  echoes  as  tempestuous  as  the  sea. 

He  briefly  rehearsed  his  religious  experience ;  but 
he  could  awaken  no  interest  in  his  heart  for  the  sal- 


270 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


vation  of  meD.  He  was  conscious  of  one  absorbing 
passion,  —  to  gain  his  point  against  La  Tour,  to  see 
Constance,  to  establish  his  home. 

But  when  the  moon  was  high,  illuminating  distant 
spaces  of  the  sea,  his  illuminating  conscience  also 
arose,  and  he  determined  to  quit  Constance  forever. 
How  could  he  appear  as  her  lovt  :•  ?  The  great  gulf 
yawning  before  him  at  La  RocheUe,  was  now  deeper 
and  wider.  Would  he  not  at  this  season  come  upon 
some  body  of  floating  ice  from  the  north  ?  Could  he 
not  make  some  excuse  to  ride  the  seas  upon  an  ice 
floe  ?  Could  he  not  find  some  way  of  escape,  before 
the  St.  Francis  should  enter  tlie  Bay  of  Fundy  ? 

At  day  dawn,  however,  it  was  clear  enough  that 
he  was  still  Governor  of  Acadia ;  upon  a  government 
ship,  —  in  pursuit  of  a  deadly  enemy.  His  passions 
had  been  awakened  by  the  war ;  and  they  could 
not  be  stilled.  He  would  fight  for  a  home ;  make  a 
home  for  himself  at  the  cannon's  mouth. 

Within  the  hour,  Constance  was  under  the  guns 
of  the  St.  Francis. 


THE  SUIT  OF  THE  DOLPHIN. 


271 


XXXI. 


THE  SUIT  OF  THE  DOLPHIN. 


TF  Constance  had  set  up  for  a  saint,  the  devil's 
•^  advocate  —  commissioned  by  the  usages  of  the 
Church  to  oppose  her  canonization  by  cataloguing 
her  sins — would  have  made  much  of  her  exaspeiated 
stat  •  of  mind  in  regard  to  Captain  John  Bay  ley,  who 
had  been  six  months  in  a  voyage  requiring  two,  — 
having  spent  his  time  in  trading  with  the  Indians  in 
the  Bay  of  Chaleurs,  and  at  Cape  Breton.  If  Con- 
stance had  known  in  early  May  what  she  knew  late 
in  August  about  Captain  Bayley,  she  would  have  had 
her  light  stuff  set  ashore,  and  packed  across  the 
country  from  Point  Du  Chene  or  either  of  several 
trading  statioLvs  made  by  the  Dolphin,  —  then  she 
could  have  summered  at  home,  and  her  goods  could 
have  been  handled ;  as  it  was,  the  La  Tour  trade  for 
the  season  was  nearly  ruined  by  the  Captain's  delay. 
But  Bayley  was  not  in  the  slightest  degree  savage 
or  ugly  about  it;  upon  the  other  hand  he  was  the 
most  accommodating  creature  in  the  world.  He  was 
always  about  to  move  on. 

Constance  talked  to  Roger  Williams  —  who  was  on 
board  with  his  Ehode  Island  Charter  —  and  Roger 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 

Williams  talked  to  Constance ;  until  they  were  both 
as  dry  as  the  Breton  herring.  They  read  the  Are- 
opagitica  together,  —  then  new  to  the  reading  world ; 
and  discussed  English  politics.  And  Williams  vol- 
unteered his  views  in  regard  to  the  peculiar  govern- 
ment of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Constance  and  Willio,ms 
both  improved  in  piety,  and  in  their  notions  of  civil 
freedom ;  and  chey  grew  old  together.  But  Captain 
Bayley  kept  on  trading  with  the  Indians. 

Wh°n  he  was  satisfied  that  he  could  not  make 
anything  more  out  of  his  peltry  —  for  that  season, 
he  began  to  think  about  Williams,  who  had  remarked 
that  the  nations  were  waiting  to  see  his  Charter  un- 
rolled upon  Narragansett  Bay ;  and  to  think  about 
the  French  woman,  who  insisted  that  her  husband's 
fort  might  be  lost  altogether  before  the  arrival  of  her 
London  guns  and  powder,  and  that  in  such  event  the 
Captain  would  lose  his  freight  and  passage  money. 

Captain  Bayley  finally  drew  his  lumbering  old 
brig  out  upon  the  road  he  ought  to  have  travelled 
over  early  in  the  seaso.1,  —  just  in  time  to  be  caught 
in  the  late  August  storm.  Aside  from  what  gave  way 
by  decay,  through  lapse  of  time,  the  Dolphin  suffered 
little  damage,  and  was  proceeding  as  leisurely  as  she 
could  toward  Cape  Sable,  when  she  was  overhauled 
by  the  St.  Francis. 

The  night  visions  of  Constance  had  been  upon  the 
high  hills  and  bold  cliffs  of  Acadia,  and  the  rushing 
seas  of  Fundy ;  where  the  flashing  brine  was  Salter, 
and  the  sparkling  waters  brighter,  than  any  other  in 


THE  SUIT  OF  THE  DOLPHIN. 


273 


the  world  to  her.  Awakened  early  by  her  mother 
heart  upon  the  day  when  she  hoped  to  reach  home, 
she  thought  to  look  out,  and  see  the  swell  break  over 
ledges  far  from  shore;  possibly  she  might  see  the 
white  line  upon  the  coast.  It  was  so  near  the  day- 
dawn,  that  she  had  little  expectation  of  discerning 
anything,  save  the  tumult  of  the  waves  after  the 
storm. 

She  saw  the  St.  Francis,  —  looming  up  largely  in 
the  imperfect  light,  —  and  bearing  down  upon  the 
Dolphin.  Constance  could  only  make  out  that  it 
was  a  French  man-of-war,  —  lying  over  to  the  star- 
board ;  and  steplthily  advancing  through  the  heavy 
water.  Charnac^,  at  the  same  moment,  heard,  against 
the  wind,  the  famt  songs  of  the  seamen  and  the  rum- 
bling of  the  yards,  as  the  Dolphin  was  making  more 
sail.  The  wind  was  dying  out,  and  likely  to  fall 
calm ;  but  the  St.  Francis  was  a  good  seagoing  craft, 
and  was  soon  sliding  past  the  brig  .vithin  hail. 

It  had  now  become  light  enough  for  Charnac^  to 
read  the  name  of  the  Englishman,  The  Dolphin.  It 
was  the  ship  Constance  had  sailed  in  from  London. 
He  saw  a  woman  near  the  wheel.  Could  it  be  Con- 
stance ?  Constance  saw  a  form  at  the  prow  of  the 
stranger  ;  and  the  light  so  shone  upon  his  features  as 
to  suggest  to  her  the  thought  of  Charnac^.  She  went 
below  quickly.  Meeting  Captain  Bayley  at  the  com- 
panion way,  she  communicated  her  belief  that  the 
Frenchman  was  bound  for  Castb  La  Tour,  and  that 
the  Dolphin  might  be  wanted. 

18 


f««l 


274 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


The  hail  of  Novelais,  the  St.  Francis  commander, 
brought  out  the  information  that  Captain  John  Syn- 
derlaud  of  the  Dolphin,  straight  from  the  Thames 
and  bound  for  Massachusetts  Bay,^  would  like  to  get 
his  bearings,  if  the  St.  Francis  had  any  idea  what 
part  of  the  sea  they  were  in,  after  the  blow. 

"  We  want  to  talk  with  Captain  Bayley." 

"  Captain  Bayley  is  in  London.  He  came  out  in 
the  Dolpliin  last  spring,  and  returned  to  England  in 
June." 

This  tallied  with  what  Charnac^  knew  of  the  sail- 
ing of  the  Dolphin  under  Bayley  in  February  or 
March,  and  was  not  unlikely  true.  Incredible  as  it 
might  be  to  the  religious  mind  of  Novelais,  that  he 
was  liable  to  pick  up  a  Protestant  in  the  ocean  who 
would  tell  him  the  truth,  it  was  more  incredible  to 
Charnac^  that  Bayley  had  been  six  months  cruising 
the  Atlantic  with  Constance  in  search  of  St.  John. 
So  Charnac^  and  Constance  sailed  away  from  each 
other  as  fast  as  they  could. 

Captain  Synderland  proved  to  be  of  much  more 
lively  temperament  than  Bayley  had  been  for  the 
past  six  months ;  and  he  shook  out  his  reefs,  crowded 
on  what  sail  he  could,  and  headed  for  Boston.  He 
had  a  voice  like  a  ship's  gun ;  and  was  better  armed 
than  most  merchantmen.  This  probably  saved  him 
some  impertinence  from  the  Saint  with  his  bla^-k 
tiers  of  guns. 

Captain  John  Bayley  had  better  success  with  the 

1  Compare  with  Winthrop's  account,  II.  192. 


THE  SUIT  OF  THE  DOLPHIN. 


275 


French  man-of-war  Francis,  than  with  the  French 
woman-of-war  Constance.  She  sued  him  for  dam- 
ages. Without  cash  in  hand,  she  could  do  nothing 
in  Boston.  Fra  Marie  was  reported,  as  still  cruising 
for  the  Dolphin,  as  he  had  been  all  summer.  Bay- 
ley's  failure  to  land  her,  according  to  contract,  made 
it  needful  for  Constance  to  hire  an  armed  escort  to 
take  her  and  her  freight  to  St.  John.  Bayley,  and 
his  owner,  Alderman  Berkly  of  London,  must  pay 
the  cost  of  carrying  her  to  Acadia ;  and  make  good 
to  General  La  Tour  the  losses  occasioned  by  delay. 

Light  hearted  La  Tour  had  been  made  heavy 
hearted,  thinking  that  Constance  and  the  Ehode 
Island  Charter  had  foundered  at  sea.  Perhaps  the 
Bay  people  took  the  more  kindly  to  Constance  and 
her  suit,  since  her  genial  husband  had  left  Boston 
only  eight  days  before  her  arrival.  He  had  been 
treated  with  the  utmost  honor  and  respect.  Unlim- 
ited hospitality  had  been  proffered ;  and  much  pow- 
der was  burned  upon  the  occasion  of  his  sailing  down 
the  harbor,  —  this  time  a  salute  from  the  Castle,  the 
solitary  occupant  of  former  months  having  been  re- 
inforced. General  La  Tour's  vast  energy,  his  power 
to  combine  men,  his  ability  to  command  confidence, 
and  his  apparently  inexhaustible  resources,  made  him 
a  ho«t  of  friends.  Madame  La  Tour  met,  therefore, 
with  a  cordial  reception,  —  as  well  on  his  account  as 
upon  her  own. 

To  the  credit  of  the  Endicott  government  be  it 
spoken,  —  Cap'^aiix  Bayley  was  not  hung  at  sight; 


276 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


public  indignation  was  great,  —  but  the  forms  of  law 
were  observed.  Roger  Williams  had  prepared  the 
mind  of  Constance  for  that.  He  had  told  her,  that 
the  Bay  people  would  do  just  what  tiiey  had  a  mind 
to ;  but  they  would  legalize  it. 

That  freedom  from  English  law  and  precedent, 
which  led  in  the  end  to  the  largest  liberty,  was  al- 
ready manifest  in  the  spirit  of  the  colonial  leaders. 
They  had  centuries  of  the  elements  of  English  liberty 
behind  them,  and  the  civil  wars  at  home  made  it  im- 
possible for  the  government  to  take  effective  notice 
of  any  irregularities  alleged  concerning  colonists  over 
the  sea.^ 

1  Lechford's  Plaine  Dealing  shows  that  he  labored  with  the 
"  lords- brethren  "  to  do  things  regularly,  as  to  legal  proceedings, 
and  at  least  to  keep  records.  He  ibought  they  exercised  powers 
beyond  the  intent  of  the  home  government,  and  made  pretensions 
of  being  wiser  than  the  English  law  (pp.  83-80).  The  not  record- 
ing appears  to  have  been  of  set  purpose  ;  they  intended  to  create  an 
American  law  and  liberty,  and  did  not  want  their  work  overhauled 
by  the  crown.  The  French  Refugee  of  1687  could  not  persuade  the 
wily  authoritiep  to  tell  him  about  their  courts  ;  they  professed  to 
know  nothing  about  them.  The  bright  Frenchman's  report,  how- 
ever, gives  us  the  most  that  we  know  about  the  early  legal  proceed- 
ings of  the  Bay,  —  save  the  important  information  in  Lechford.  It 
appears  that  the  magistrates  advised  the  parties  to  a  quarrel ;  ^  then 
acted  the  part  of  advocates  ;2  then  adjudicated  upon  them  !  They 
considered  this  fairer  than  the  employment  of  lawyers  ;  and  allowed 
Lechford  to  try  only  one  case.  In  that  one,  he  lobbied  with  the 
juiy  jmvately  ;  it  was  probably  a  habit  he  brought  from  England. 
After  two  years,  he  tried  his  hand  at  hoeing  corn,  and  at  advising 
the  colony  for  its  better  ordering  and  for  the  conversion  of  Indians; 
then  returned  whence  he  came. 


1  Mem.  Hist.  Boston,  I.  p.  503. 


3  Lechford,  p.  86. 


THE  SUIT  OF  THE  DOLPHIN. 


277 


The  disposition  of  the  Bay  authorities  to  act 
promptly  in  the  direction  they  thought  to  be  right, 
whether  it  was  legal  or  not,  had  been  illustrated 
within  sixty  days  of  the  arrival  of  Bayley.  A 
Frenchman,  whose  name  has  not  come  down  to  us,^ 
was  suspected  of  being  an  incendiary.  Nothing  was 
proved  against  him ;  but  he  was  compelled  to  pay 
the  cost  of  the  so  called  court  of  justice,  stand  in  the 
pillory,  have  both  ears  cut  off,  and  give  £500  bonds 
for  good  behavior  1 

Bayley  and  his  consignee  were  arrested ;  and  they 
had  to  surrender  a  part  of  the  ship's  cargo,  subject  to 
the  findings  of  the  court,  before  they  could  be  re- 
leased. The  trial  came  off  in  the  n.eeting  house.^ 
It  was  at  a  special  session,  before  all  the  magistrates, 
and  a  jury  of  the  principal  men.^  After  giving  her 
testimony,  Constance  retired  to  her  chamber  at  Major 
Gibohcs*  house. 

It  v\'js  argued  upon  the  one  side,  that  Madame 
La  Tour  ought  not  to  go  to  St.  John ;  that  it  would 
make  trouble  with  Charnac(5.  Upon  the  other  side, 
the  facts  were  presented,  and  the  justice  of  the  claim. 
In  making  the  plea  for  Madame  La  Tour,  the  Rev- 
erend John  Wilson  created  a  great  sensation,  by  an- 
nouncing the  news,  which  had  just  arrived,  of  the 
battle  of  Marston  Moor,  July  second. 

^  Savage's  Police  Records,  p.  18. 

2  Plaine  Dealing,  p.  84,  indicates  this  as  the  place  of  holding  the 
gi'eat  quarter  courts. 

8  Hanney's  Acp.dia,  p.  166. 


.» 


i ; 


278 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


The  jury  gave  Madame  La  Tour  £2000  damages. 
The  attached  cargo  proved  to  be  vvrorth  only  £1100 ; 
and  the  Boston  merchants  took  £700  of  that,  for 
three  ships  to  escort,  vi  et  armis,  Madame  to  her 
husband.^ 

The  delays  of  the  law  kept  Constance  in  Boston 
longer  than  had  been  anticipated.  Socially,  a  great 
number  were  added  to  her  friends.  A  profound  re- 
spect filled  her  miud  for  the  deep  piety,  and  good 
sense  of  the  men  she  met.  The  possibilities  of  a  new 
country  opened  before  her.  It  cost  only  £20,  to 
make  a  good  settlement  for  a  family  of  four  persons. 
At  Rodislan,  Eoger  Williaihs'  country,  that  amount 
of  money  would  buy  one  hundred  acres  of  good  land ; 
and  if  one  chose  to  put  part  of  the  money  into  fur- 
nishing his  log  cabin,  he  could  have  three  years  in 
which  to  pay  for  the  land,  by  adding  one  fifth  to  his 
purchase  money.  The  £30  paid  to  Blaxton  for  all 
the  Shawmut  peninsula,  save  six  acres  reserved,  had 
already  proved  a  sagacious  investment. 

The  heart  of  Constance  was  full  of  those  plans  for 
JTew  France,  which  had  they  been  successful  would 
have  put  a  new  face  upon  Acadia,  making  it  one  of 
the  most  thriving  States  of  the  world.  She  had 
thrown  off  the  French  notion  of  dividing  the  soil 

*  Aldennan  Berkly  of  Loudon,  —  Captain  Bayley's  principal,  — 
soon  afterwards  arrested  Governor  Winthrop's  son  Stephen,  the  Re- 
corder of  the  Court,  and  Captain  James  Weld,  one  of  the  jury,  when 
they  visited  England  ;  and  would  have  made  them  much  trouble 
by  legal  proceedings,  —  which  in  th&t  age  were  more  lawless  in 
London  than  in  Boston,  —  had  not  Sir  Henry  Vane  interfered. 


TBE  SUIT  OF  THE  DOLPHIN. 


279 


between  lord«? ;  and  sought  to  build  up  in  Acadia  the 
domes'  •  home,  the  Christian  home  of  Protestant 
faith,  asbarinj^  to  each  settler  an  ownership  of  the 
full  "'o  U^.ng  the  foundation  of  perman'.  "■  pros- 
pe  itj 

o"    the   mere   handful  of  four  hi.aJred 
Freuc  igrants  to  Acadia,  who  naked  of  means 

broke  ti^j  ground,  with  determination  not  to  give  the 
lie  to  the  traditions  of  thrifty  France,  —  now  about 
one  hundred  thousand  in  number,  all  descended  from 
the  four  hundred  old  Acadians,  —  we  should  have 
had  a  grand  Protestant  French  nation,  who  even  if 
under  English  rule  would  exercise  a  vast  influence 
upon  this  continent.  But  upon  the  other  hand,  by 
the  time  this  feeble  band  of  four  hundred  had  in- 
creased to  two  thousand,  the  English  colonies  south 
had  a  population  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million. 
The  English  themselves  neglected  Acadia,  when  it 
came  into  their  possession ;  and  it  has  been  accorded 
no  such  place  in  the  world's  history,  as  it  had  in  the 
dreams  and  wise  plans  of  Constance.  Since  each  of 
the  original  French  colonists  is  now  represented  by 
two  hundred  and  fifty  souls,  her  work  would  have 
become  one  of  the  great  world-forces  had  she  not  so 
early  won  the  crown  of  martyrdom.^ 

Constance  was,  at  the  time  of  her  second  visit  to 
Boston,  in  all  the  flush  and  fire  of  the  earlier  years  of 
her  womanhood ;  at  twenty  eight,  —  of  modest  de- 


1  Consult  M.  Ramean,  Colonie  Feodale  en  America. 
Paris,  1877.     Pages  272,  273,  354,  360-62. 


L'Acadie. 


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280 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


meanor,  of  singular  beauty,  with  eyes  which  became 
one  of  the  traditions  of  the  Bay,  of  clear  cut  religious 
character,  of  strong  personal  magnetism,  and  the 
mental  acuteness  and  practical  benevolence  of  Anne 
Hutchinson, — without  her  taste  for  discussing  doubt- 
ful, difficult,  and  nonessential  points  in  theology,  and 
without  her  sharpness  ot  speech.  No  wonder  that 
Madame  La  Tour  won  the  hearts  of  Winthrop  and 
Cotton  and  the  eminent  men  of  the  colony. 

Of  all  the  noble  women  figuring  in  the  early  Eec- 
ords,  there  is  no  one  to  whom  so  high  praise  is  given 
by  every  historian  alluding  to  her,  as  Constance  of 
Acadia.  The  men  of  that  day,  who  had  it  in  them 
to  found  a  nation,  looked  upon  her  as  every  way  their 
equal  in  the  handling  of  affairs.  And  Louis  the 
king,  and  the  intriguers  at  his  court,  accounted  her 
a  full  match,  —  to  be  overcome  only  by  heavy  artil- 
lery. She  must  be  met  by  battalions,  as  Joan  of 
Arc. 

"It  is  not  of  my  choosing,"  said  Constance  to 
Margarett  Gibones,  as  she  embarked  for  Castle  La 
Tour ;  "  but  I  must  go,  and  engage  in  this  warfare." 


CASTINE. 


281 


r^\ 


1 


» .-. 


XXXII. 


CASTmE. 


WHEN"  General  La  Tour  declined  to  be  ironed 
and  bundled  alive  into  the  St.  Francis  and 
the  Bastile,  Eoland  Capon  certified  to  the  fact  that  he 
declined,  and  the  certificate  was  sent  to  Louis  XIII. 
by  the  St.  Francis. 

Charnacd  returned  to  the  Bay  of  the  Kio  Hermoso,^ 
not  a  little  out  of  humor.  He  cannot  be  said  to  have 
been  of  violent  temper,  unless  at  times ;  but  his  self 
will  now  and  then  got  the  better  of  him,  and  main- 
tained itself  in  a  quiet  way  for  a  long  time  against 
his  reason  and  his  conscience.  It  had  been  perhaps 
this  great  moral  blunder,  which  was  the  cause  of  all 
his  woes.  His  early  decision  to  follow  Palladio  in- 
stead of  Constance,  was,  in  part,  a  decisiori  not  to  give 
up  his  will  to  a  woman.  He  could  decide  for  him- 
self, and  he  did  decide. 

When  Fra  Marie  saw,  at  the  landing,  that  his 
master  was  out  of  tune,  it  pleased  his  humor  to  make 
the  Governor  more  so,  by  placing  in  a  conspicuous 
position  the  £50  sedan,  which  Winthrop  had  shipped 

1  Charnacd  made  an  elaborate  attempt,  in  his  correspondence 
and  official  reports,  to  revive  the  name  given  to  the  Penobscot  by 
Spanish  explorers,  —  Bio  Hermoso,  the  Beautiful  Biver. 


282 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


to  Pentagotiet  as  an  offset  for  the  damages  and  chagrins 
of  Passageewakeag. 

Charnac^  was  furious.  He  had  hated  sedans,  — 
then  recently  invented,  —  since  he  saw  the  one  by 
which  Constance  escaped  at  La  Rochelle. 

"A  Puritan  city  in  truth!"  he  said, his  nostrils  ex- 
panding, and  his  lips  curling  in  scorn.  "  The  Gover- 
nor takes  a  gift  from  a  pirate,  and  bestows  it  on  the 
chief  magistrate  of  a  neighboring  jurisdiction,  in  pay- 
ment of  a  just  debt.  If  I  were  in  the  second-hand 
furniture  business,  I  would  ask  Winthrop  to  send  out 
his  pirates,  and  bring  me  twelve  dozen  such  chairs  as 
this ;  and  then  I  'd  call  it  square  between  us." 

He  took  up  a  four  foot  birch  stick  from  the  hearth- 
side,  and  laid  it  across  his  knees ;  as  he  sat  fronting 
the  low  fire,  upon  that  early  September  night. 
Ciphering  upon  it,  he  asked  Marie,  — 

"  Did  you  give  him  a  receipt  the  bill  of 

damages  ? " 

"  Certainly  not.  I  gave  him  plenty  of  palaver  for 
his  present,  and  put  the  bill  in  my  pocket.  We 
shall,  I  suppose,  collect  it,  —  after  we  take  Fort 
La  Tour." 

"The  saints  sink  La  Tour!"  exclaimed  Charnac^, 
throwing  his  birch  upon  the  fire.  When  the  fresh 
blaze  lighted  up  the  room,  and  sent  the  deep  shadows 
slinking  behind  the  tables  and  benches,  the  Governor 
of  Acadia  arose  and  strode  up  and-  down  the  low  long 
room,  —  his  shadow  moving  up  and  down  the  south 
wall. 


CASTINE. 


rr- 


283 


"  I  Ve  just  reckoned,"  he  said  to  Marie,  "  that  it 
will  take  tl^rteen  dozen  and  four  of  this  sample  to 
pay  my  bill.  If  I  had  enough  of  them,  it  would  pay 
me  to  go  into  the  business.  You  can  take  the  pin- 
nace, the  St.  Joe,  to-morrow,  and,  under  my  hand  and 
seal,  ask  the  Puritans  to  send  me  down  twelve  dozen 
sedans  of  this  pattern.  Then  I  '11  charter  a  Bos- 
ton ship,  and  hire  Winthrop  for  a  supercargo ;  and 
have  him  go  round  to  all  the  viceroys  in  the  world 
and  their  sisters,  and  peddle  them  out.  I  suppose  the 
Bay  people  would  rather  pay  in  barter  than  in  money ; 
and  they  '11  make  something  handsome  in  disposing 
of  them." 

Early  next  morning,  pacing  up  and  down  in  front 
of  his  blazing  hearth,  waiting  for  the  breakfast  call, 
he  said  to  liis  apparently  obsequious  companion  in 
the  office,  —  "Marie,  I  have  decided  to  teach  the 
Tarratines  the  use  of  firearms ;  then  let  the  Puritans 
look  to  it,  if  they  impose  on  their  neighbors.  You 
may  set  an  effigy  of  John  Cotton  in  the  sedan ;  and 
give  the  thing  to  our  Indians  to  shoot  at." 

The  wickerwork  was  taken  out,  and  made  up  into 
pots  for  catching  silver  eels ;  and  the  sedan,  and  the 
puritan  preacher  in  it,  were  shot  to  pieces  within  a 
few  months. 

"  For  downright  lying,  commend  me  to  the  Protes- 
tants," said  Francisco  Brogi  to  the  Governor.  "  Ma- 
dame La  Tour  was  upon  the  Dolphin,  after  all." 

Fra  Marie,  in  the  St.  Joe,  went  to  Boston  with 
ten  men,  before  Constance  left ;  and  demanded  that 


284 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Endicott  should  allow  no  aid  to  be  rendered  in  send- 
ing her  to  St.  John. 

**  She  is,"  he  reported,  "  the  cause  of  all  La  Tour's 
contempt  and  rebellion ;  and  her  flight  from  France 
was  contrary  to  the  order  of  the  king."  ^ 

Marie  had  no  hope  of  getting  Constance  from 
Gibones  and  Hawkins  and  Winthrop  in  their  own 
town,  —  particularly  under  the  guns  of  the  Castle 
garrison.  But  he  did  expect  to  learn  when  she  would 
sail.  Her  escort  narrowly  escaped  attack  upon  the 
open  seas,  by  the  failure  of  the  fleet's  commander  to 
take, the  wind  according  to  Marie's  calculation. 

Ex-Governor  Winthrop  was  gathering  his  apples, 
when  Marie  sailed  down  the  harbor ;  and  Governor 
Charnac^  was  at  his  farm  up  the  Biguyduce,  —  when 
the  envoy  returned  from  observing  the  lay  of  the  land 
for  making  a  French  attack  on  Boston  whenever 
occasion  should  serve.  The  French,  though  few  in 
Acadia,  did  not  doubt  their  ability  to  take  whatever 
they  wanted  in  America  by  help  of  the  home  govern- 
ment. 

In  all  of  Marie's  acquaintance  with  Charnacd,  he 
had  never  known  him  to  be  so  enraged.  The  Gover- 
nor did  well  to  be  angry.  About  the  time  Marie  left 
for  Boston,  Charnac6  m  cruising  came  upon  Messrs. 
Vine  of  Saco,  Shirt  of  Pemaquid,  and  Wamerton  of 
Mason's  Grant,  en  route  for  St.  John,  as  they  said, 
to  collect  bills  from  La  Tour.  Charnacd  kept  them  as 
prisoners  for  several  days ;  experimenting  upon  them, 

^  Hubbard,  second  ed.,  487. 


CAS  TINE. 


r 


is- 


285 


as  to  how  they  liked  the  different  kinds  of  Boston 
dishes, — which  his  cook  was  attempting  upon  Fra 
Marie's  suggestion.  Wamerton  was  of  ungovernable 
temper,  and,  upon  his  return  from  St.  John,  picked  up 
twenty  men  well  armed,  and  went  to  the  Governor's 
farm.  The  laborers  ran  for  the  house.  The  irate 
New  Hampshire  man  rapped  with  knuckles  of  gran- 
ite. The  laborers  fired,  killing  Wamerton  and  another 
man,  and  wounding  several  more.  The  building 
and  outhouses  were  burned,  and  the  cattle  and  farm- 
animals  killed,  and  the  crops  destroyed. 

Marie  was  sent  back  to  Boston  with  a  threat,  that 
the  Governor  of  Acadia  would  burn  every  colonial 
ship  venturing  east  of  the  Penobscot.  Endicott  wrote 
a  fierce  letter  in  reply.  Marie  was  sent  to  Versailles 
with  Endicott's  letter,  and  a  long  account  of  the  out- 
rage upon  the  fort-farm.  The  French  court  returned 
a  dignified  letter,  stating  that  they  would  help  him 
against  La  Tour,  but  they  could  not  properly  make 
war  with  the  English  on  account  of  his  cows  and 
keepers  and  fodder.^ 

Charnac^  had  no  taste  for  farming.  He  loved  to 
wander  over  the  fertile  lands,  and  the  agreeable  envi- 
rons of  the  fort.2  A  taste  to  be  always  shooting 
something  was  now  developed  in  him  Jby  his  mood. 
He  frequented  the  cranberry  meadows,  to  watch  for 
wild  geese  settling  near. 

^  The  fann  is  said,  in  the  Wamerton  account,  to  have  been  called 
Penobscot,  — very  likely  on  account  of  its  being  a  "rocky  place." 
It  was  at  the  head  of  the  Northern  Bay,  on  the  Biguyduce. 

^  Charlevoix.    ,.-    —  - 


286 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


The  Indians  fringed  the  rivers  with  their  weirs ; 
no  small  shipments  of  fish  were  made  to  Europe. 
Charnac^  was  in  no  temper  to  study;  and  he  en- 
gaged in  fishing,  or  almost  anything  that  offered,  to 
take  up  his  time.  He  was  dissatisfied  with  himself 
and  everybody  else.  He  had  a  work  to  do,  not  to  his 
mind ;  to  the  end  —  that  his  mind  might  be  suited. 
His  moral  sensibilities  were  in  his  way;  his  mind 
was  at  war  with  itself. 

It  being  his  wish  to  inure  himself  to  every  kind  of 
'hardi^hip,  until  he  should  be  as  tough  as  an  Indian, 
—  l^nowing  not  what  strain  there  might  be  upon  his 
nervous  system  in  months  next  coming,  —  he  as- 
cended, before  the  winter  set  in,  the  Rio  Hermoso, 
upon  a  long  hunting  trip;  thinking,  devout  as  he 
was,  that  he  would  undertake  the  conversion  of  the 
Tarratines  in  their  own  country.  He  was  perhaps  in 
as  good  a  frame  as  he  could  well  expect  to  be,  either 
to  convert  savages  or  to  shoot  moose.  Wild  meat 
might  be  prepared  for  the  expedition ;  and  wild  In- 
dians made  into  allies,  whatever  might  become  of 
their  souls. 


£10  HEBMOSO,       , 


287 


XXXIII. 


RIO  HERMOSO. 

•pNTEEING,  by  the  still  reaches  of  the  Hermoso, 
-■— '  into  the  mighty  wilderness,  Charnac^  became  at 
once  more  robust  in  body  and  spirit.  There  had  come 
to  be  now  no  doubt  in  his  mind,  that  peoples  and  in- 
dividuals, when  brought  into  direct  contact  with  the 
Word  of  God  and  the  All-revealing  Spirit  by  prayer, 
were  as  likely  to  carry  forward  life's  duties  intel- 
ligently as  if  guided  by  any  Vicar  or  General  not 
omniscient,  omnipotent,  omnipresent,  or  infinite  in 
wisdom  and  love. 

He  could,  however,  and  would  cling  to  what  was 
highest  and  holiest  in  the  life  of  a  Jesu't:  missionary. 
Might  he  wholly  renounce  his  ambitions  >f  glory  in 
the  Old  World  ?  Could  he  wholly  devote  himself  to 
the  improvement  of  the  Acadian  aborigines  ?  This 
work,  although  not  so  much  to  his  mind  as  fingering 
the  court  at  Versailles,  was  possible.  He  would  now 
stop  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kenduskeag  stream,  where 
he  might  sometime  establish  the  mission  of  St.  Igna- 
tius, and  persuade  Indian  youth  to  go  down  the 
river  to  Era  Leo's  school.^ 

1  The  coppei*  sheet,  8X10,  which  was  placed  by  the  Franciscan 
in  the  foundation  of  his  new  school  building  after  the  death  of 


288 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Charnac^  had  ceased  to  use  the  devotional  manu- 
als of  his  church,  contenting  himself  with  occasion- 
ally reading  in  the  Psalms  of  David, — which  had 
just  enough  of  a  warlike  vindictive  spirit  to  suit  him, 
—  and  extempore  prayer,  or  the  prayer  of  our  Lord. 

It  was  when  he  was  teaching  the  Kenduskeag  In- 
dians the  Lord's  prayer,  that  he  came  to  a  perfect 
stand  still.  In  expounding  to  the  savages,  he  caught 
a  glimpse  of  his  own  savage  unforgiving  spirit ;  and 
telling  his  hearers  that  there  was  no  more  of  the 
prayer  —  for  that  day — he  climbed  to  the  highest 
point  of  land  south  of  the  Kenduskeag,  and  there 
reviewed  the  situation. 

His  present  feeling  toward  La  Tour  was  that  of 
contempt.  He  had  seen  men  since  going  abroad. 
La  Tour  was  a  mere  backwood's  man,  fit  for  the  com- 
pany of  the  Indians,  but  with  no  soul  for  art,  poetry, 
literature,  or  even  religion ;  with  absolutely  no  appre- 
ciation of  the  intellectual  character  and  moral  beauty 
of  Constance.  Charnac^  did  not  admit  to  himself, 
that  there  was  jealousy  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart ; 
although  he  never  could  forget,  that,  when  he  caught 
a  glimpse  of  Thomas  k  Kempis  at  Cape  Sable,  his 
first  impulse  had  been  to  sabre  his  rival  upon  the 
spot.  He  did  remember, — and  it  came  up  to  him  so 
vividly  as  the  sun  was  going  down  over  the  vast  for- 
est in  the  west,  and  the  lights  were  changing  on  the 

Chamac^,  erected  by  the  Governor's  money,  was  discovered  at  Cas- 
tine  in  1863:  — "1648,  Jan.  8.  I,  Fra  Leo,  of  Paris,  Capuchin 
Missionary,  laid  this  foundation  in  honor  of  our  Lady  of  Hope." 


BIO  HERMOSO. 


289 


stretches  of  the  Hermoso,  —  that  his  heart  had  never 
ceased  to  beat  with  uncontrollable  anguish  whenever 
he  thought  of  Constance,  as  connected  even  remotely 
with  La  Tour ;  and  that  the  name  La  Tour  aroused 
the  demon  in  his  breast. 

He  put  it  solely  upon  a  suitable  revenge  for  La 
Tour's  affront  in  raising  the  blockade,  and  defeating 
him  in  battle.  He  had  been  humiliated  by  his  ad- 
versary in  the  eyes  of  Paris,  —  not  to  allude  to  the 
New  Englanders. 

When  he  sat  gloomily  among  the  saturnine  war- 
riors at  the  night  fire,  he  felt  a  strange  sympathy  for 
the  revenges  they  cherished  in  their  hearts.  The 
flaming  fires  of  the  aurora  were  lighting  up  the  north, 
like  the  kindlings  of  war.  He  could  not,  however, 
lose  himself  in  sleep,  without  asking, — "What  would 
Constance  say,  if  she  could  read  my  heart?  She 
would  pray  for  me,  just  as  she  used  to  do  when  we 
were  children." 

Next  morning,  although  it  was  a  sharp  air,  he  took 
his  long  gun,  and  vealked  up  the  Tight  bank  of  the 
Kenduskeag.  He  paused  on  the  verge  of  the  great 
cliff  of  sheer  rock,  a  little  way  up  the  picturesque 
stream ;  and  under  an  arbor  vitee  shelter  kneeled  to 
pray.  He  stopped  short  at  "  Thy  will  be  done."  He 
impiously  said,  —  "My  will  be  done;"  and  strode 
grimly  along  through  the  thick  forest,  following  the 
windings  of  the  water. 

It  had  been  made  clear  to  him,  that  his  intellectual 
knowledge  of  God  had  never  led  him  to  submit  his 

19 


290 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


will;  that  his  tastes,  liis  ambitions,  liad  been  his 
own ;  that  even  his  religious  exercises,  if  not  looked 
upon  as  meritorious,  were  at  least  pleasing  to  his  po- 
etic sentiment,  which  was  gratified  by  the  tliought  of 
a  God  somewhere  in  the  universe.  Conscious  of  self- 
seeking,  he  saw  now  that  his  own  love  for  Constance 
had  been  selfish.  He  had  desired  his  own  happi- 
ness, not  hers. 

It  made  him  intolerably  wretched,  when  he  dis- 
covered there,  —  under  a  wild  apple  tree,  gnarled  and 
scrubby,  upon  the  margin  of  a  deep  pool  where  he 
was  watching  the  leaping  of  the  trout,  —  that  the 
true  definition  of  friendship  is  an  unselfish  love.  He 
had  never  even  loved  Constance,  he  had  loved  him- 
self. To  gratify  himself  he  had  desired  her;  as  if 
this  messenger  of  God  had  no  other  mission  than  to 
become  his  companion. 

Then  he  wept  with  the  strong  agony  of  a  man  in 
the  fulness  of  his  years.  He  could  not  make  up  his 
mind  to  accept  the  inevitable  outcome  of  his  intellec- 
tual processes.  His  will  had  never  been  thwarted 
by  any  one  save  Constance ;  and  the  contest  was  not 
even  yet  decided  between  them.  It  was  to  be  de- 
cided soon.     His  will  rose  straight  against  the  wall. 

"  I  will,"  he  said,  "  at  least  be  frank  with  God.  If 
I  mean  '  my  will  be  done,'  I  will  not  say  'Thy  will  be 
done.' " 

He  strode  on  with  his  long  gun,  and  his  heart  of 
iron.  He  moved  over  the  charred  highlands ;  amid 
burdocks,  thistles,  and  fire  weed  killed  by  frosts; 


RIO  HERMOSO,       r^ 


291 


[)een  bis 
)t  looked 
0  his  po- 
lougbt  of 
LIS  of  aelf- 
^onstance 
m  happi- 

n  lie  dia- 
larled  and 
where  he 
-that  the 
love.  He 
ioved  him- 
her;  as  if 
3n  than  to 

f  a  man  in 
ake  up  his 
lis  intellec- 

thwarted 
ist  was  not 

to  be  de- 

the  wall. 
God.    If 

hy  will  be 

lis  heart  of 
mds;  amid 
by  frosts; 


amid  hazel  clumps  and  small  birches,  — or  under 
gaunt  hornbeams  towering  over  the  burnt  district. 
He  gazed  on  the  desolate  rocks  bemoaning  their  stern 
destiny,  under  bare  branches  swaying  in  the  chilling 
wind.  Then  he  turned  toward  the  sunlighted,  gently 
moving  stream ;  over  which  dead  trees  —  rising 
weird-like  above  the  live  growth  —  were  leaning 
to  catch  their  own  images  mirrored  below. 

He  saw  the  timid  fawn  approach  to  drink ;  and 
there  was  game  in  all  his  pathless  wandering,  —  jut 
he  never  di^scharged  his  piece  that  day.  He  stood 
motionless,  if  he  saw  a  fox  stealing  along  the  edge  of 
an  opening,  or  if  a  buck  was  nibbling  tufts  of  grass 
upon  the  sunny  side  of  a  thicket  of  hemlocks.  "  These 
creatures,"  he  said,  "do  not  think.  They  have  no 
sense  of  right  and  wrong ;  no  conscience,  no  God." 

He  came  upon  a  wolf,  in  the  great  patch  of  burned 
timber  five  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  stream.  Re- 
maining in  one  position,  —  as  if  he  had  been  a  dead 
tree,  or  a  man  cut  out  of  the  heartless  rockS;  —  he 
saw  the  wolf  make  a  find  of  a  young  doe  killed 
yesterday,  for  which  the  Indian  hunter  had  not  yet 
returned.  The  wolf  slunk  away  to  call  his  pack. 
Charnacd  shouldered  the  doe,  carried  it  some  distance 
and  threw  it  across  a  boulder ;  then  watched  for  the 
wolfs  return.  The  pack  killed  the  wolf,  which  had 
—  as  they  believed  —  lied  to  them. 

"  If  all  human  liars,"  said  the  philosophic  hunter, 
to  the  avenging  wolves,  "  had  been  treated  the  same 
way,  I  should  not  be  here  to  see." 


-%m^mJlk^ 


292 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


"  I  cannot  pray  honestly,  if  I  have  no  true  desire 
that  God's  will  may  be  done,"  repeated  Chamac^  to  his 
shadow,  when  before  sunset  he  had  crossed  the  stream, 
and  stood  upon  the  hill  he  climbed  the  evening  be- 
fore. "  I  can,  however,  read  Thomas  k  Kempis  for 
my  devotions." 

He  opened  first  at  this  page,  then  th?t.  finding 
nothing  to  which  he  would  give  willing  assent :  — 
"  The  glory  and  privilege  of  a  good  man  consists  in 
the  testimony  of  his  own  mind;  for  this  is  a  perpetual 
feast  and  triumph."  "  Prosperity  itself  cannot  procure 
ease  and  content  to  a  guilty,  and  self-condemning 
breast."  "  The  man  thou  seest  so  gay,  so  seemingly 
full  of  delight,  is  galled  and  stung  within."  "  Man 
himself  is  his  own  worst  enemy." 

In  the  evening,  however,  Chamac^  re-read  all  these 
passages,  at  the  great  fire ;  and,  out  of  the  fulness  of 
his  heart,  preached  a  long  sermon  to  the  Indian  warriors. 

Next  morning  he  resumed  his  trip  up  the  river, 
ascendi:jg  the  "West  Branch.  Upon  the  great  slide 
of  Katahdin,  so  desolate,  he  dreamed  of  Constance. 
In  his  waking  moments,  —  it  was  the  Sabbath,  —  he 
asked  himself :  — 

"  Has  she  always  climbed  upward,  since  coming  to 
Acadia  ?  Have  I  stood  still  ?  Or  am  I  even  worse  ? 
If  I  am  worse,  do  I  care  ? " 

Charnac^,  upon  Lake  Millenoket,  moved  about  in 
the  shadow  of  the  planet ;  setting  on  fire  one  after 
another  of  the  wooded  islands  in  the  night.  The 
fringes  of  fire  along  the  water  side  pleased  his  wild 


BIO  HERMOSO, 


293 


le  desire 
tc^  to  his 
e  stream, 
ning  be- 
mpis  for 

b.  finding 
ssent :  — 
insists  in 
perpetual 
3t  procure 
ndemning 
seemingly 
."     "  Man 

d  all  these 
ulness  of 
warriors, 
he  river, 

Treat  slide 

Constance. 

bath,  —  he 

coming  to 
^en  worse  ? 

about  in 
one  after 
ight.    The 
}d  his  wild 


humor ;  and  the  great  illumination,  when  the  wind 
arose  and  the  fires  were  well  under  way,  made  the 
heavens  black  as  sackcloth,  —  which  also  pleased  his 
grim  humor.  The  crackling  flames,  the  leaping  lights, 
diverted  him,  like  a  storm  of  fire. 

The  run  down  the  Hermoso  was  soon  made;  his 
last  night  of  camping  being  upon  the  heights  near 
those  great  ledges  that  rise  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Beautiful  Kiver,  a  little  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ken- 
duskeag  stream.  Tne  clouds  of  the  first  great  snow 
fall  were  already  filling  the  sky. 

By  this  time,  Charnac^'s  mental  pendulum  was 
swinging  violently,  uncontrollably,  toward  his  great 
love.  He  would  brook  no  obstacle.  He  had  now 
decided  it  to  be  foolish  for  him  to  analyze  his  friend- 
ship for  Constance,  whether  it  were  selfish  or  un- 
selfish ;  he  only  knew,  that  his  heart  was  desolate ; 
that  he  was  going  to  a  fort,  —  not  to  a  home ;  that 
he  had  no  home,  unless  in  the  presence  of  Constance. 
Whether  she  might  love  him,  was  not  to  the  point ; 
he  loved  her.  He  envied  Castle  La  Tour  every  hour 
of  joy  in  it.  Ambitions  were,  for  now,  set  one  side ; 
he  would  first  have  a  home. 

"  Luther,"  he  muttered  through  his  teeth  as  he 
watched  his  shadow  among  the  pines,  when  he  walked 
in  front  of  his  great  camp  fire  that  night,  "  embroiled 
the  Holy  Church,  and  disturbed  all  Europe,  for  the 
love  he  bore  his  wife.  He  was  a  domestic  sort  of  a 
man,  and  he  wanted  to  marry.  I  do  not  blame  him. 
I  want  a  home." 


■>v 


294 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Still,  the  next  morning,  gliding  down  the  river 
in  the  fast  falling  snow,  Charnac^  could  not  but 
return  to  the  question,  whether  Constance  would 
smile  upon  him,  when  he  should  see  her,  now  so 
soon.  Could  he  hope  to  win  her  love,  —  by  battle  ? 
His  secret  life,  —  the  state  of  his  will  before  God 
and  the  spirit  he  exercised  toward  all  made  in  God's 
image,  —  must  be  such  as  Constance  would  approve ; 
or  she  would  never  love  him. 

The  course  he  was  to  pursue  was,  however,  all 
marked  out  for  him ;  although  he  did  not  know  it. 


H 


ARTILLERY  PRACTICE. 


295 


XXXIV. 


ARTILLERY  PRACTICE. 


WHEN  Constance  returned  home  after  her  long 
absence  of  almost  a  year  and  a  half,  the  body 
of  Claude  la  Tour  had  been  laid  to  rest  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Ouangondy,  to  await  the  resurrection. 
Already  many  months  had  gone  by ;  and  the  grass 
had  grown  thriftily  upon  the  new  grave,  and  been 
nipped  by  the  early  frosts ;  and  the  mound  was  now 
covered  by  dead  leaves,  and  awaiting  the  snowfall. 

No  change  of  earthly  circumstances,  not  even  the 
neighborhood  of  the  death-angel,  the  absence  of  his 
wife,  or  the  danger  to  his  home,  could  quite  subdue 
the  never  failing  spirits  of  Charles  la  Tour;  who, 
perhaps  enlivened  by  his  wife's  return,  kept  the 
castle  roaring  with  his  mirth  for  six  weeks.  Hen- 
rietta had  spent  the  autumnal  evenings  upon  the 
latest  book  order  from  England,  —  Fuller's  Holy 
and  Profane  State,  and  his  Holy  War ;  and  the  last 
three  books  of  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity;  but 
La  Tour  had  seized  upon  the  works  of  Ben  Jonson ; 
and  the  brightest  of  his  retainers  he  drilled  in  Shak- 
spere,  —  in  an  illuminated  clearing,  thickly  set  about 


296 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


with  hemlock  and  cedar,  where  the  uproariousness  of 
the  evening  theatricals  would  amuse  his  savages, 
without  compromising  the  dignity  of  the  military 
post  he  held  under  Louis  XIII.  That  his  King  had 
already  turned  traitor  to  him  who  held  Pentagoiiet 
for  France,  excited  no  wonder  on  La  Tour's  part ;  and 
hardly  clouded  the  face  of  the  gay  Frenchman. 

Takouchin  and  Pitchibat  brought  news  of  the  for- 
midable war  preparations  at  the  Bay  of  Kio  Hermoso ; 
and  La  Tour  bestirred  himself  in  every  way  possible 
to  prevent  the  fall  of  calamity.  He  had  been  put 
to  great  loss  upon  his  season's  trade  by  Bayley's 
delay  in  delivering  his  goods ;  so  that  in  August  he 
had  mortgaged  his  fort  and  all  his  real  and  personal 
property  to  Major  Gibones  for  a  £2500  loan.  The 
goods  at  hand  would  be  of  little  service  till  next 
season.  La  Tour,  therefore,  opened  logging  camps, 
and  set  his  men  to  make  the  most  of  their  winter ; 
then  went  to  Boston  to  procure  if  practicable  more 
ammunition,  and  —  if  it  could  be  compassed  —  tem- 
porary service  of  men  against  Charnac^. 

He  had  no  sooner  gone,  than  Mirabaud  and  Ori- 
ani,  friars  whom  La  Tour  still  maintained  in  his  alle- 
giance to  Louis,  began  so  to  conduct  themselves  that 
Constance  contemptuously  sent  them  adrift,  instead 
of  hanging  them,  as  the  spies  of  Charnac^?.  They  at 
once  communicated  with  the  enemy ;  reporting  La 
Tour  as  absent,  —  only  fifty  men  in  the  fort,  —  and 
the  magazine  \o\v}    In  his  later  days,  it  was  one  of 


1  Consult  Hanney's  Acadia,  pp.  143,  170. 


ARTILLEBT  PRACTICE. 


297 


the  stings  in  his  unrest,  that  he  had  ever  sent  them 
into  the  fort ;  but  it  was  the  knowledge  Charnacd  had 
of  her  kindness  of  heart,  that  emboldened  him  to 
impose  upon  her.  He  did  not  believe  that  Constance 
would  hang  them. 

The  hour  had  now  come;  the  favorable  con- 
dition for  an  attack.  When  Charnac^  returned  from 
his  expedition  up  the  Hermoso,  he  found,  by  no 
great  penetration,  that  he  was  not  wholly  the  mas- 
ter. He  had  set  in  motion  influences  now  beyond 
his  control.  The  great  machine  was  whirling  by  a 
power  not  his  own.  The  slightest  individual  re- 
sistance on  his  part  would  grind  him  to  powder. 
It  was  known  to  his  Superior,  that  he  could  not 
quite  be  depended  upon,  that  he  might  have  ulte- 
rior views  in  regard  to  Constance.  His  Jesuitical 
secretary,  Roland  Capon,  was  under  instructions 
from  head-quarters.  Fra  Marie,  just  then  absent, 
was  under  instructions  other  than  those  of  the  Gov- 
ernor. And  General  Francisco  Brogi,  who  had  come 
out  as  chief  ofi&cer  to  Charnac^,  proved  to  be  the 
special  emissary  of  the  Jesuit  authorities  in  Paris ; 
and  already,  not  knowing  what  he  did,  the  Governor 
had  placed  him  in  practical  charge  of  the  war  upon 
Castle  La  Tour. 

The  war  spirit  could  not  now  be  quenched  by  any 
variation  in  the  mood  of  Charnacd :  who  upon  some 
days  felt  like  a  Governor  carrying  out  a  plan  in  the 
name  of  France;  and  upon  other  days  like  a  lover, 
not  knowing  how  best  to  win  his  way;  and  again 


298 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


like  a  man  with  moral  sense  uppermost,- — deter- 
mined to  do  right  come  what  would.  The  con- 
science of  Charnace  was  not  unlike  the  moon;  of 
varying  phases  of  fulness,  and  occasionally  eclipsed 
altogether.  He  was  so  susceptible  to  the  influences 
by  which  he  was  surrounded,  during  December  and 
January,  that  Charuac^  felt  very  keenly  the  belittling 
circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed. 

When  alone  with  his  God,  he  only  lacked  a  little 
of  courageously  confessing  that  he  had  been  in  the 
wrong.  He  almost  proposed  to  himself  to  do  right 
by  La  Tour.  He  even  dreamed  one  night,  that  he 
saw  Constance  surrounded  by  armed  legions  of  angels ; 
and  that  they  disappeared  or  reappeared  according 
to  his  changing  purpose,  to  do  what  was  right  or  to 
continue  in  the  wrong. 

Midwinter  days,  however,  found  him  in  the  lawless 
temper  of  a  feudal  lord,  who  knew  no  will  but  his 
own.  And  he  even  placed  his  hand  upon  the  re- 
morseless iron  wheel,  to  make  it  move  the  faster,  to 
crush  Castle  La  Tour  and  Protestantism  in  Acadia. 
He  could  not  stay  its  motion ;  and  he  would  not,  if 
he  could:  He  became  inexpressibly  tired  of  the  great 
white  world  in  which  he  lived,  the  interminable  win- 
ter ;  any  thing  but  this.  He  was  glad  then,  when  he 
heard  the  report  of  the  false  friars,  that  the  hour  was 
drawing  near  for  which  they  had  waited. 

With  explicit  instructions  to  Brogi  to  spare  life, 
and  to  insure  that  no  harm  should  come  to  Con- 
stance,—  to  which  the   wily  Jesuit  soldier  readily 


ARTILLERY  PRACTICE. 


299 


assented,  —  Charnace  set  sail  in  three  ships  for  the 
St.  John. 

In  answer  to  the  fire  of  the  men-of-war,  Constance 
took  her  place  in  one  of  the  bastions,  and  directed  the 
firing.^  Her  first  Shot  killed  three  men  upon  Chat- 
nacd's  own  ship ;  and  the  second  as  many  more. 
Charnace  had  forgotten  that,  when  as  a  boy  he  had 
learned  the  artillery  practice  with  Constance  at  La 
Kochelle,  she  had  far  surpassed  him  in  the  accuracy 
of  her  firing. 

By  the  time  the  ships  had  delivered  their  third 
broadside,  with  no  more  effect  upon  the  stone  fort 
than  if  they  had  fired  into  the  rocky  cliffs  over- 
lianging  the  tide,  the  fort  was  all  ablaze  with  guns. 
The  ships  were  riddled.  Twenty  men  were  killed, 
and  thirteen  wounded.  The  water  rushed  in  at  the 
apertures  made  in  the  wooden  walls  by  the  cannon 
shot ;  and  still  Castle  La  Tour  maintained  its  deadly 
fire.  The  wind  had  sprung  up  from  the  east,  and 
they  could  not  get  out  of  range  without  warping. 
They  had  to  run  ashore  behind  Bruyeres'  Point, 
to  keep  from  sinking.  Brogi's  confidence  in  his 
much  boasted  improved  artillery  which  he  had  him- 
self selected  had  kept  the  ships  in  position  too  long. 
The  great  precision  of  the  gun  service  from  the  fort 
gave  occasion  to  the  New  England  historians  to  speak 
gallant  words  for  Madame  La  Tour.^ 

1  Hanney's  Acadia,  p.  170. 

2  There  is,  however,  no  occasion  for  the  contrast  made  between 
the  courage  and  militaiy  efficiency  of  Constance  and  her  husband, 
by  Hubbard,  —  pp.  493,  497. 


-t  :-"-^ 


300 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


\  Lemoine,  one  of  the  men  who  had  visited  Boston 
with  Fra  Marie,  and  who  was  not  lacking  in  humor, 
was  put  in  irons  by  the  infuriated  Brogi  for  ventur- 
ing to  tell  the  pertinent  story  of  John  Josselyn,  Gent., 
who  gathered  a  live  wasps'-nest  in  the  woods  on  Nod- 
dle's Island,  mistaking  it  for  fruit,  growing  like  a 
pineapple. 

The  shock  of  his  defeat  was  to  Charnac^  like  the 
opening  of  the  earth  by  powers  of  darkness  below 
the  crust.  While  the  ships  were  repairing,  making 
them  safe  to  return  to  Pentagoiiet,  he  went  to  the 
height  of  Partridge  Island ;  and  there  lay  down  under 
a  juniper  tree,  more  disconsolate  than  any  disap- 
pointed man  of  God  in  far  off  ages.  He  was  tho- 
roughly angry,  —  angry  with  himself,  angry  with  La 
Tour,  angry  with  Constance,  angry  with  his  Jesuits. 
But  anger  is  the  least  of  the  evils  of  war.  The  dark- 
ness and  ruin  of  the  hour,  the  world  of  woe  within 
him,  had  been  preparing  of  long  time. 

The  more  he  thought  of  it,  the  more  angry  he  be- 
came. He  believed  that  he  did  well  to  be  angry. 
Had  he  set  up  and  worshipped  the  image  of  Con- 
stance in  his  heart  for  all  these  years,  only  to  be 
beaten  by  her  in  a  fair  fight  with  great  guns  ?  He 
had  pictured  her  as  still  the  angelic  heroine  of  La 
Rochelle ;  he  had  forgotten  the  generations  of  fighting 
blood  in  her  veins. 

If  he  had  now  remaining  in  his  bosom  one  unex- 
tinguished spark  of  manhood,  he  would  take  that  fort, 
or  die  in  doing  it.    Should  he  succeed,  or  not  succeed, 


ARTILLERY  PRACTICE. 


301 


after  having  beeu  baffled  so  many  times  in  his  at- 
tempt to  seize  the  person  of  Constance  ?  Lives 
might  be  lost;  but  many  had  been  already  lost. 
Why  not  more  ?  The  death  of  the  first  was  a  vain 
sacrifice,  unless  he  should  finally  succeed,  even  if 
more  should  perish.  The  worst  elements  in  his 
heart  were  aroused  by  actual  war.  It  was  not  now 
a  matter  of  will,  but  of  temper. 

It  is  not  clear  from  the  meagre  records  just  when 
it  was  that  he  uttered  it,  but  his  secretary,  Eoland 
Capon,  reported  that  Charnac^  had  sworn  by  a  great 
oath,  that  when  he  should  capture  the  fort,  he 
would  hang  Madame  La  Tour.  The  words  were 
not  forgotten. 

It  occurred  to  Charnac^  to  reconnoitre.  He  would 
ascertain  whether  the  fort  might  not  be  safely  ap- 
proached by  land  through  some  cavin.  As  he  was 
standing  alone,  he  was  seen  by  Constance,  within 
gunshot  of  the  inner  bastion.  Leaving  Simon  Imbert 
at  the  guns  covering  her  pathway,  she  went  out  to 
meet  him.  Constance  waved  her  kerchief  for  a  truce 
flag;  and  when  Charnac^  responded  by  like  signal, 
she  advanced. 

Charnacd  and  Constance  were  of  the  same  age. 
He  could  not  but  admire  her  womanly  beauty, 
as  well  as  her  soldierly  bearing;  his  very  near- 
ness to  the  object  of  his  passion,  softened  his 
heart. 

When  within  earshot,  Constance  asked,  —  and  her 
tones  were  the  same  that  had  thrilled  Charnac^  to 


-Hk 


302 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


his  finger  tips  in  former  years,  — "  Can  I  be  of  any 
service  in  the  relief  of  the  wounded  ?" 

"  The  only  service  you  can  render  me,  Constance, 
is  to  surrender  yourself  as  my  prisoner,  and  surrender 
the  fortress." 

Tiie  words  of  Constance  were  more  effective  even 
than  her  artillery.  It  is  the  tender  loving  words  that 
break  human  liearts;  not  the  harsh  unkind  words. 
Charnacd  had  now  seen  her  of  whom  the  world  was 
not  worthy.  This  vision,  so  suddenly  appearing, 
then  lost  from  sight,  had  the  effect  upon  his  mind 
of  clearing  it  up,  —  showing  him  his  moral  bearings ; 
much  as  the  mysterious  shifting  scenery  of  the  coast, 
so  often  losing  itself  in  a  fog  bank,  looms  out  of  the 
dissolving  mist  under  a  light  land-breeze  which  lets 
in  the  sun. 

Eeturning  to  his  solitary  post  upon  the  wretched 
flats  of  the  Biguyduce,  and  walking  up  and  down 
among  the  gloomy  fir  trees,  the  sad  and  fierce  Char- 
nac^  lived  long  in  the  two  months  next  following. 
What  he  thought  and  felt,  —  when  his  conscience 
was  full,  and  when  it  waned,  —  when  Mars  paled 
his  fires,  —  when  Venus  glowed  in  the  sky  above 
him,  —  all  these  bitter  secrets  of  his  lonely  hours 
had  no  perceptible  effect  in  making  Charnacd  less 
susceptible  to  the  influences  by  which  he  was  in- 
cessantly surrounded. 

His  despicable  tools,  —  whose  tool  he  was,  —  his 
friars,  his  priests,  his  brotherhood  of  Indian  teachers, 
and  his  very  Indians,  and  the  very  few  womenfolk 


ARTILLERY  PRACTICE. 


303 


in  the  settlement,  —  all  derided  him  with  their  eyes, 
their  tones,  their  hems,  their  haws,  tlieir  gait,  and 
by  what  they  did  not  say,  and  did  not  do.  Char- 
nacd  felt  that  his  kingdom  was  departing.  He 
wondered  what  his  King  would  say.  What  his 
God  had  already  said,  he  did  not  hear  or  know. 

They  were  all  angry.  It  would  have  been  political 
madness  to  have  held  them  back.  Richelieu's  echo 
again  sounded  upon  the  Bay.  Charnacd  felt  a  strange 
kinship  for  the  arbitrary  spirit  of  the  great  minister. 
Singularly  introspective,  he  questioned  his  own  con- 
science, — "  Am  I  not  hard,  haughty,  tyrannical  ? 
Does  not  ray  repulse  make  it  necessary  for  me  to 
steel  my  heart,  for  the  glory  of  God  ? "  His  papal 
piety  began  to  assert  its  claims.  The  Mother  Church 
pleaded  over  against  Constance. 

Word  came  one  day,  that  his  uncle,  the  Baron 
Charnacd,  had  been  killed  in  the  trenches  in  the 
siege  of  Breda;  his  soldier  spirit  leading  him  to 
risk  himself  in  a  cau&e  to  which  he  was  devoted,  — 
even  though  his  service  as  ambassador  might  have 
excused  him.  His  brave  heart  had  been  carried  into 
France,  and  buried  in  the  church  of  the  Carmelites 
at  Angers. 

Upon  that  March  day  when  this  news  came,  the 
Governor  of  Acadia  had  been  trying  to  school  his 
mind  by  prayer,  and  the  reading  of  God's  word,  to 
seek  the  divine  companionship,  to  win  the  promise 
that  the  Holy  One  would  abide  with  those  loving 
Him,     Now  his  heart  was  torn  in  pieces  by  this 


304 


CONSTANCH:  OF  ACADIA. 


r 


affliction,  bringing  up  as  it  did  all  the  emptines:*.  of 
his  uncle's  heart  afte"  liis  wife  died,  the  long  years 
o/f  distressing  melancnoly,  now  happily  ended  by 
death. 

What  could  he  now  do,  otherwise  than  reaffirm  all 
his  old  vows  of  love  to  Constance,  and  capture  her  in 
the  Castle?  And  if  he  himself  should  be  slain  in 
the  battle,  would  not  that  be  infinitely  better  t];an 
to  live  as  now  ?  His  heart  drew  him  back  from  every 
thought  of  relinquishing  his  undertaking.  Charnacd 
could  not  but  admire  the  virility  of  his  lair  foe. 
Were  she  a  man,  what  blame  could  attach  to  her 
that  she  had  fought  for  the  place  she  called  her 
home  ?  It  was  his  fault,  if  he  had  not  taken  the 
fort;  not  hers,  that  sb'?  had  defended  it.  She  was 
a  woman  worth  \v  inning,  even  at  the  cannon's 
mouth. 

Then  suddenly  he  saw  the  clouds  breaking  against 
the  heights  of  the  Meguuticut  in  tlie  west,  like  the 
great  rollers  breaking  upon  the  outermost  rocks  seen 
down  the  Bay.  This  presaged  a  storrn :  so  his  mood 
changed,  —  with  the  changing  weather.  His  early 
inclination  to  the  priesthood,  his  erly  rcjention  by 
Constance,  his  life-loug  flame  of  lo'<^.-  'j'.y^onchabl 
for  this  ablest  as  well  as  most  amiauiu  and  most  self 
devoted  of  womankind,  had  kept  his  heart  single. 
Why  should  he  marry  ? 

Tl.en  i^'  was,  that  there  dawned  upon  him  with 
ocr  :e  f'lluess  the  great  thought  of  a  divine  presence 
filii*ig  his  solit.ade,  the  dawning  of  a  better  hope,  — 


ARTILLERY  PRACTICE. 


but  even  this  he  could  not  free  from  the  influence  of 
Constance.  He  vowed  i.iost  solemnly,  and  recorded 
it:  — 

"God  do  to  me  as  I  would  do  to  Charles  la  Tour, 
if  I  ever  once  think  of  taking  to  myself  a  wife.  But 
my  soul  craves  company  in  this  wilderness  of  woods 
close  upon  the  wilderness  of  waves.  And  be  La  Tour 
dead  or  alive,  I  will  see  Constance ;  and  be  of  her 
company,  —  as  I  was  when  we  were  babe«  crawling 
out  of  our  cradles  into  each  other's  houses,  as  when 
we  went  to  school  hand  in  hand,  as  we  were  for 
seven  blissful  years  in  our  teens,  as  we  were  after 
that  when  we  argued  theology  for  more  than  three 
years,  —  as  I  was  until  my  demoniacal  Jesut  con- 
fessor—  whom  may  God  call  to  an  account  for  my 
soul  at  the  Great  Day  —  made  it  a  point  of  con- 
science that  I  forsake  an  angel  and  keep  company 
with  him  and  his  infernal  companions,  —  promising 
me  high  usefulness  for  the  honor  of  God  in  establish- 
ing his  kingdom  m  a  new  world.  When  I  get  lack 
to  Constance,  from  whom  I  never  should  have  been 
separated,  then  my  falsely  directed  life  will  be  ed 
aright ;  then  I  will  seek  unto  God  anew ;  then  I  w  ill 
be  at  rest  in  God.  Not  now,  0  my  soul,  I  cannot 
rest  in  God  now." 

Then  he  cursed  himself  for  the  life  he  had  led,  — 
as  bad  as  La  Tour's,  a  mere  hunting  for  pelts  and 
provinces,  without  one  hour  of  God  and  peace  at 
heart.  Then  the  wretched  man  vowed,  that,  as  an 
earthly  means  to  divine  illumination,  he  would  in 

20 


4 


306 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


taking  Castle  La  Tour  keep  Saint  Constance  chained 
in  the  chapel ;  and  there  kneel  before  her.  "  And  if," 
closes  this  strange  paper,  —  written  under  the  dis- 
tracting claims  of  the  Governor's  duty  as  an  officer 
of  France,  of  his  churchly  relations,  his  conscience, 
and  his  love,  — "  she  is  silent  to  me  forever,  and 
only  now  and  then  drops  a  tear  —  like  the  sham 
Virgin  which  Fra  Cupavo  has  made  for  our  Indians, 
—  I  shall  have  all  the  peace  I  can  have  in  this 
world." 


H 


CONSTANCE  AND  CHARLES. 


307 


)  chained 
'  And  if," 
the  dis- 
m  officer 
(nscience, 
ever,  and 
ihe  sham 
:  Indians, 
e  in  this 


XXXV. 

CONSTANCE  AND  CHARLES  OF  LA  ROCHELLE. 

A  LONE  with  her  Guardian  Angel,  and  in  the 
■^^-  presence  of  Him  who  is  called  the  Heavenly 
Bridegroom,  was  Constance  at  the  dawn  of  the  anx- 
ious Easter  morning.  Charles  la  Tour  had  returned 
empty  handed  from  Boston.  He  had  no  present 
money;  he  had  no  further  mortgage  to  offer;  and 
all  the  fine  talk  of  the  two  days'  meeting  about  the 
golden  rule  and  helping  the  distressed  —  backed  up 
by  Scripture  —  was  explained  to  him  in  Boston,  as 
applicable  only  to  those  who  could  pay  cash  or  give 
sound  security.  La  Tour  now,  therefore,  turned  to 
the  Indian  trade,  making  an  early  trip  to  the  woods, 
hoping  to  convert  his  goods  into  furs,  and  his  furs 
into  money.  He  had  remained  in  his  home  but  a 
few  days, — just  after  the  defeat  of  Charnac^.  His 
promised  early  return  would  relieve  Constance.  But 
Charnacd  had  now  reappeared  a  few  days  before 
Easter,  to  make  an  attack  upon  the  land  side  of  the 
fortress.  He  had  been  repulsed,  without  having  gained 
the  slightest  advantage  in  three  days'  fighting. 

At  day  dawn  upon  the  morning  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, Sunday,  April  the  thirteenth,  Constance  had 


.  i 


^ 


308 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


assembled  all  the  garrison,  who  were  not  on  guard, 
for  chapel  service.  While  singing  the  twenty  third 
psalm :  — 

que  quand  au  val  viendroye 
D'ombre  de  mort,  rien  de  mal  ne  craindroye  : 
Car  auec  moy  tu  es  k  chacune  heure  ;  — 

the  alarm  was  suddenly  given,  —  that  their  foes  were 
scaling  the  walls. 

When  the  forces  of  Charnac^  drew  off  Saturday 
night  with  loss,  they  held  for  a  short  time  aS  prisoner, 
then  released,  a  soldier  from  the  Perouse  near  L?i 
Tour's  old  home,  in  fact  one  of  his  early  mates.  It 
was  through  his  treachery,  that  Brogi  was  to  be  ad- 
mitted within  the  palisades  at  day  break ;  when,  it 
was  believed,  the  walls  could  be  scaled  by  the  superior 
force  without  meeting  resistance.  Charnac^  himself 
saw  the  traitor;  and  was  satisfied  that  the  fortress 
could  be  carried  with  little  or  no  loss  at  that  early 
hour.  Anxiously  watching  through  the  most  of  the 
night,  he  secured  the  early  movement  of  the  men. 
General  Brogi  had  the  work  in  hand,  —  his  own  life 
in  pledge  to  Charnacd  that  all  should  be  well.  The 
Acadian  Governor  then  awaited  the  result ;  spending 
the  moments  ostensibly  with  his  confessor,  Fra  Cu- 
pavo,  who  had  been  selected  for  his  office  mainly  for 
the  light  hold  his  religion  had  upon  him,  and  his 
lack  of  strictness  in  meddling  with  the  conscience  of 
Charnac^. 

Upon  the  moment  of  alarm,  Constance  rushed  out 
of  chapel  at  the  head  of  her  fierce  Huguenots  to 


■..  t 


CONSTANCE  AND   CHARLES. 


309 


on  guard, 
jnty  third 


foes  were 

Saturday 
,3  prisoner, 
e  near  L^ 
mates.     It 

to  be  ad- 
: ;  when,  it 
iie  superior 
,cd  himself 
he  fortress 

that  early 
Dost  of  the 
the  men. 
lis  own  life 
well.     The 

;  spending 
)r,  Fra  Cu- 

mainly  for 
m,  and  his 
mscience  of 

rushed  out 
iguenots  to 


avenge  the  treason  of  her  guard.  Twelve  of  the 
enemy  were  killed  at  the  first  fire,  and  many  wounded. 
Twice,  the  invaders  were  forced  back  to  the  wall; 
then  advanced  again,  being  reinforced  by  the  soldiers 
pouring  over  the  top  of  the  fort.  By  a  fresh  onset, 
and  the  transcendent  power  of  courage,  the  Hugue- 
nots repulsed  the  foe  the  third  time.  Constance 
climbed  the  wall,  to  defend  it  at  the  head  of  her 
garrison.^ 

General  Brogi  was  led  by  the  boldness  of  Madame 
La  Tour  and  her  followers  to  believe  that  the  garri- 
son must  be  larger  than  had  been  reported.  He  pro- 
posed the  capitulation  of  the  fort  upon  honorable 
terms ;  offering  life  and  liberty.  To  this  Constance 
acceded,  to  save  the  blood  of  her  men.  She  was 
also  moved  to  do  it,  from  having  a  principal  artery 
cut  by  a  buckshot. 

Brogi  had  been  long  ill  tempered  and  angry  at 
what  he  thought  the  indecision  of  Charnac^ ;  and  he 
would  now  make  an  end.  Had  he  not  been  sent 
across  the  seas  for  this  hour  ?  Pretending  that  he 
had  been  deceived  into  offering  terms  by  a  false 
showing  of  the  size  of  the  garrison,  he  gave  orders  to 
hang  the  men  at  the  door  of  the  chapel ;  and  even 
put  a  cord  round  the  neck  of  Madame  La  Tour,  — 
who  was  pressing  her  thumb  over  the  severed  artery. 

Charnac^  had  distrusted  Brogi  from  the  beginning; 
knowing  how  pertinaciously  bad  men  were  selected 

1  Charlevoix,  Histoire  et  Description  Gdndrale  de  La  Nouvelle 
Franc*.    5  vols.    Paris.    1744.    Vol.  II.  page  197. 


310 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


m 


for  the  worst  of  work,  as  the  most  self  devoted  and 
the  holiest  of  priests  were  set  to  some  work  for  which 
they  were  best  fitted.  But  he  had  felt  that  he  was  in 
the  toils,  and  could  not  escape.  He  had  tried  to 
assure  himself,  that  there  was  no  danger  in  war,  that 
no  resistance  could  be  made  at  the  early  Sabbath 
hour.  When  he  heard  the  sharp  rattle  of  musketry 
he  hurried  to  the  fort,  his  conscience  sounding  thun- 
der peals.  Volley  on  volley  alarmed  him.  But  his 
heart  failed  him,  until  all  was  suddenly  still;  and 
then  it  failed  him.  Who  could  tell  what  he  might 
see  next  moment? 

Charnacd  entered  the  chapel,  to  which  Constance 
had  retired.  He  killed  Brogi  with  one  blow  of  his 
sabre.     The  hanging  at  the  chapel  door  ceased. 

He  was  now  alone  with  Constance ;  he  had  been 
too  long  alone,  stilling  his  mind  for  the  agitations  of 
the  hour  in  which  he  should  meet  her.  Constance 
was  seated  in  the  chair,  by  which  she  had  stood  at 
the  morning  service  leading  her  soldiery  in  prayer  to 
Him  who  rolled  the  rock  away  by  angelic  hands,  — 
to  Him,  who  was  thought  by  Mary  to  be  the  gar- 
dener, as  He  walked  among  the  flowers  upon  that 
spring  morning  sixteen  hundred  years  ago.     • 

Charnacd  stood  a  moment  uncovered.  He  saw 
that  Constance  pressed  her  thumb  upon  a  clot  of 
blood,  with  her  clothing  opened  to  the  wound.  It 
was  only  a  moment.  He  kneeled,  as  if  in  adoration ; 
and  was  silent. 

"  Come  unto  me  all  ye  who  labor  and  are  heavy 


CONSTANCE  AND  CEABLE8. 


311 


>ted  and 
3r  which 
e  was  in 
tried  to 
war,  that 
Sabbath 
nusketry 
ng  thun- 
But  his 
bill;  and 
le  might 


laden;  and  I  will  give  you  rest:" — littering  these 
words,  Constance  removed  her  thumb  from  the  wound, 
and  was  dead.  The  open  Bible,  out  of  which  she 
had  been  reading  to  her  soldiers,  was  covered  by  her 
life  blood. 


Jonstance 

)w  of  his 

3d. 

tiad  been 

;ations  of 

Jonstance 

stood  at 
prayer  to 
hands,  — 

the  gar- 
pon  that 

He  saw 
a  clot  of 
)und.  It 
doration ; 


xe  heavy 


312 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA, 


XXXVI. 


THE  TIDES  OF  FUNDY. 


FRA  CUPAVO,  the  rosy  and  rotund  keeper  of 
Charnace's  conscience,  waited  long  for  his  vic- 
torious penitent  to  appear  at  the  confessional  next 
morning.  Meeting  his  master  at  about  noon,  he 
ventured,  —  with  his  features  smoothed  in  the  at- 
tempt to  smile  with  a  solemnity  befitting  the  sub- 
ject, and  ducking  his  head,  and  bending  forward  his 
shoulders  until  he  formed  a  short  crescent,  —  to 
remark : 

"Your  excellency  has  not  forgotten  the  confes- 
sional, I  am  confident;  there  are  many  cares  in 
conquest." 

The  Governor  made  no  reply,  except  by  a  look, 
which  said,  —  "  Go  with  me." 

Uneasy  in  his  gait  —  for  he  had  come  from  Gen- 
eral La  Tour's  pipe  of  Bourdeaux  —  he  followed 
slowly  the  firm  even  tread  of  Charnac^  into  Mad- 
ame la  Tour's  library. 

"  I  wish  to  have  you  witness  my  signature  to  these 
papers ;  your  hand  is  well  known,  and  carries  weight 
with  it  in  the  Order  of  Jesus  and  at  Versailles. " 


y:i 


.1     " 


TEE  TIDES  OF  FUNDT. 


313 


:eeper  of 
r  his  vic- 
)nal  next 
noon^  he 
I  the  at- 
the  sub- 
?ward  his 
ent,  —  to 

e  confes- 
cares  in 

y  a  look, 

rom  Gen- 
followed 
nto  Mad- 

e  to  these 
es  weight 
les. " 


Hastily  signing  his  full  name,  Charles  de  Menou, 
Sieur  Hilaire  Charnac^,  to  the  two  papers,  —  the 
heavy  friar  nimbly  peeping  over  his  shoulders, — 
he  handed  one  of  them  to  his  father  confessor  to 
witness. 

Cupavo  had  at  a  glance  read  too  much.  He  was 
sobered.  It  was  a  document  by  which  the  money 
value  of  all  the  real  and  personal  property  cap- 
tured,—  some  £10,000,  —  was  to  be  made  over  to 
Charles,  the  son  of  Constance,  under  the  guardianship 
of  Lamotte  the  young  Huguenot  clergyman,  whom 
Constance  had  selected  to  serve  as  her  child's  tutor. 

His  reverence  eagerly  snatched  the  proffered  parch- 
ment, and  with  eyes  shot  by  wine  and  rage,  he  was 
about  to  argue  the  point  with  the  conscience  of  the 
Governor,  which  had  been  occasionally  in  his  keep- 
ing when  not  in  eclipse.  To  be  sure  Charnace  had 
confessed  little  since  his  return  from  France;  now, 
indeed,  it  was  time  for  the  Jesuit  to  assert  the  claims 
of  religion,  —  and  speak  he  would. 

Charnac^  had  stepped  back  a  pace  or  two:  "My 
holy  and  venerated  father,  and,  during  so  many 
years,  my  conscience,  —  if  it  is  your  part  to  guide 
me  to  heaven,  it  is  my  part  to  rule  you  while  on 
earth.  Time  is  of  the  utmost  value  to-day.  You  will 
witness  the  paper,  without  commenting  upon  it." 

Cupavo  saw  that  his  master  was  in  no  mood  for 
trifling  or  even  delay.  Still,  as  if  the  Governor's 
conscience  were  incarnate  in  him,  and  he  must  be 
heard,  his   mouth  began    to  pucker,   preparing  to 


314 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


make  one  or  two  brief  observations  in  the  way  of 
remonstrance. 

He  was  however  interrupted  by  a  pistol  shot, 
taking  off  the  lobe  of  his  right  ear. 

Fra  Conscience  cried,  —  "As  I  am  a  man,  I  will 
speak  against  this  infamy.  Will  you  snatch  from 
the  Church  this  heretical  plunder,  and  endow  with  it 
a  Huguenot  whelp  ? " 

He  would  have  said  more ;  but  the  lobe  of  his  left 
ear  was  cut  off;  —  and  another  pistol  was  in  hand. 
He  signed  the  paper;  and  stood  transfixed  in  his 
place. 

Placing  a  guard  over  his  conscience,  Charnac^ 
within  the  hour  had  the  child  of  Constance,  the 
guardian  Lamotte,  and  Henrietta,  on  board  one  of 
La  Tour's  cruisers,  which  rode  in  the  harbor,  con- 
stantly armed  and  provisioned ;  and  they  were  under 
way  for  Bretagne. 

The  other  paper,  which  was  witnessed  later,  was, 
with  other  documents,  sealed  in  a  package  addressed 
to  General  La  Tour;  and  committed  to  the  care  of 
Madame  La  Tour's  chaplain. 

As  the  sun  was  going  down,  Charnace  embarked 
in  the  canoe,  which  Constance  had  so  often  used  in 
her  missionary  journeys  among  the  Indians  up  the 
river ;  and  the  body  of  Constance,  attired  for  burial, 
was  placed  in  it.  Her  faithful  chaplain  was  at  the 
prow,  and  her  childhood  companion  at  the  stern.  A 
grave  had  been  made  ready  upon  the  hither  side  of 
the  river,  under  the  moaning  pines. 


THE   TIDES  OF  FUNDT. 


315 


)  way  of 

tol  shot, 

in,  I  will 
tch  from 
w  with  it 

i  his  left 
in  hand, 
d  in  his 

Charnac^ 
mce,  the 
d  one  of 
bor,  con- 
jre  under 

iter,  was, 
iddressed 
B  care  of 


A  shot  from  a  masked  battery  belonging  to  the 
defences  of  the  fort,  upon  the  banks  above,  struck 
the  canoe  mid  river;  and  the  body  of  Constance 
was  borne  down  the  current  upon  the  swift  tides  of 
Fundy.  The  martial  fir  trees  bristling  on  the  heights, 
the  sombre  spruces,  the  rocks  dark  and  shaggy  with 
sea  weed,  and  the  screaming  sea  mews  witnessed  the 
burial  of  Constance. 


jmbarked 
I  used  in 
8  up  the 
yc  burial, 
IS  at  the 
itern.  A 
jr  side  of 


316 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


XXXVII. 

IN  THE  ICE. 

"  I  ^HE  eccentricity  of  Charnacd's  conduct  toward 
•*"  the  keeper  of  his  conscience  excited  no  small 
wonder  in  Fra  Le  Vilin,  to  whom  alone  Cupavo,  upon 
his  return  to  Pentagoiiet,  told  the  secret  of  his  ears, 
and  what  he  knew  about  Charnace''s  love  for  the 
Huguenot  woman.  In  thinking  over  the  conduct 
of  their  Governor,  during  marv  months,  indeed 
ever  since  La  Tour  escaped  his  blockade,  it  seemed 
rational  to  suppose  —  if  their  own  combined  reason 
couli  be  relied  upon  as  sound  —  that  Charnace  was 
not  what  he  used  to  be,  certainly  not  in  his  relations 
to  their  Order. 

Not  long  after  his  return  to  the  Penobscot,  Char- 
nacd  took  two  Indians  and  went  out  in  a  canoe  upon 
the  Bay ;  whether  to  search  for  seals,  or  to  make  his 
way  to  the  extreme  southwestern  headlands,  where 
he  had  talked  of  fortifying  in  encroachment  upon 
English  ground,  is  not  now  known.  The  Indians 
were  Joe  Takouchin,  whom  Charnac^  had  brought 
from  the  St.  John ;  and  young  Madockawando,  after- 
wards principal  sachem  of  the  Tarratines  in  the  days 
of  Baron  Castine.     When  they  left  the  fort  in  the 


m  THE  ICE. 


317 


gray  of  the  morning,  in  passing  Nautilus  Island 
about  half  a  mile  out,  Charnac^  called  the  attention 
of  the  Indians  to  the  dense  growth  of  pines,  and  to 
the  pleasant  gurgling  of  the  waters  upon  the  shingle 
and  the  base  of  the  rocks.  And  for  a  mile  or  more, 
he  kept  turning  himself  in  the  canoe  to  look  at  it ; 
and  finally  reversed  his  position,  so  that  he  could 
gaze  upon  it  without  turning.  As  the  sun  came 
up,  a  singularly  bright  cloud  overhung  the  pines, 
and  remained  there  till  the  island  was  out  of  sight. 

It  had  been  a  long  cold  winter ;  and  the  ice  in  the 
Penobscot  was  late  in  breaking  up,  —  indeed  Char- 
nacd  did  not  know  that  the  recent  warm  days  and 
southerly  rains  had  started  the  great  body  of  ice  in 
the  river,  until  he  was  in  the  midst  of  the  advance 
guard  of  that  northern  army  which  floated  down  upon 
the  slack  tide.  A  strong  south-west  wind,  rising 
toward  night,  choked  the  Bay  with  ice. 

The  night  was  spent  upon  one  of  the  Fox  Islands ; 
where  Charnacd  had  formerly  erected  a  comfortable 
shelter  for  the  convenience  of  his  huntsmen  and  fish- 
ing folk.  The  wind  grew  sharper,  bringing  in  a  hurt- 
ling sleet  in  the  early  part  of  the  night. 

The  direction  of  Loyola  to  Mazzi  of  Brescia  had 
been  running  in  the  mind  of  Charnacd  all  the 
evening :  "  When  you  wake  this  night,  stretch  your- 
self out  as  if  you  were  dead ;  and  think  to  yourself 
how  you  will  wish  to  have  lived  when  that  time 
really  draws  near."  The  going  down  of  the  sun 
had  brought  to  Charnac^  a  strange  horror.     He  was 


318 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


I 


at  bottom  the  cause  of  the  death  of  Constance.  Her 
Guardian  Angel  had  already  avenged  her,  in  the  tor- 
ture of  soul  he  had  endured  since  the  morning  of  the 
Lord's  resurrection.  The  nightfall  now  found  him 
agonizing  under  the  thought,  that  God  had  with- 
drawn the  light  forever;  but  when  the  morning 
rose,  he  said,  — "  Heaviness  may  endure  for  a  night, 
but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning." 

Soon  after  day  dawn,  Charnacd  descried  to  the 
eastward  his  packet  from  France ;  and  decided  to 
return  to  the  fort.  The  wind  had  hauled  to  the 
north-west  in  the  night ;  and  the  air  was  full  of 
frost.  Their  progress  was  hindered  by  the  ice. 
The  day  became  exceeding  cold.  Sometime  before 
noon,  in  bold  water,  they  were  caught  in  an  ice  pack. 
They  could  still  go  forward  or  backward,  but  slowly 
and  not  far;  they  were  encircled  by  ice  cakes,  too 
small  for  footing,  yet  so  large  as  to  present  a  great 
obstacle  to  paddling ;  and  new  ice  formed  so  rapidly 
that  poling  along  the  ice-rafts  was  soon  out  of  the 
question.  Two  or  three  hours  after  the  noon,  they 
were  locked,  without  tools  for  making  suitable  ad- 
vance or  retrogression. 

Charnac^  diverted  himself  by  watching  the  glitter- 
ing light  upon  the  various  angles  presented  by  the 
ice,  not  far  away ;  and  in  peering  into  the  depths  of 
the  sullen  waters ;  or  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  the 
mountain  sides  on  the  west,  where  the  pines  looked 
so  still  and  warm ;  or  he  gazed  with  a  feeling  of  envy 
upon  the  islands,  so  shaggy  with  their  coats  of  fir. 


IN  THE  ICE. 


319 


ce.  Her 
1  the  tor- 
ng  of  the 
und  him 
ad  with- 
morning 
a  night, 

d  to  the 
jcided  to 
d  to  the 
ls  full  of 
the  ice. 
[le  before 
ice  pack, 
it  slowly 
lakes,  too 
t  a  great 
0  rapidly 
ut  of  the 
oon,  they 
table  ad- 

le  glitter- 
by  the 
depths  of 
es  to  the 
33  looked 
g  of  envy 
Lts  of  fir. 


Then  he  watched  the  knitting  together  of  the  ice  by 
the  frost  needles. 

The  whole  mass  of  loose  ice  was  being  united  by 
the  invisible  cold.  Within  twelve  hours  next  com- 
ing, if  the  weather  should  not  moderate,  a  rough  ice 
field  would  be  formed,  upon  which  they  could  move 
as  upon  a  bridge.  That  is  to  say,  if  they,  too,  should 
not  be  solidified,  together  with  the  chunks  of  ice  ;  for 
they  were  cold  already,  with  the  penetrating  wind,  so 
sharp,  so  severe,  so  out  of  season  in  the  early  May. 
The  Indians  believed  that  they  could  handle  the  ca- 
noe upon  the  fast  forming  ice,  perhaps  by  midnight. 

Charnacd  said  little,  save  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of 
his  men,  one  of  whom  had  been  with  him  many 
leagues  of  river  and  sea,  in  that  canoe.  He  him- 
self loved  the  very  sinews  and  the  pitch  daubs  of 
this  home  of  birch.  Before  the  sun  went  down,  Joe 
was  very  sure  that  a  half  acre  of  thick  slabs  of  ice  to 
the  east  of  the  birch,  was  strong  enough  to  bear  their 
weight.  With  more  care  and  cunning  than  any  wild 
creature  of  the  forest,  this  half  civilized  man  com- 
pleted his  reconnoitre;  and  it  was  determined  to 
work  the  canoe  over  the  ice ;  then  turn  it  up  edge- 
wise, or  bottom  up,  for  a  wind  break ;  and  so  pass 
the  night,  —  taking  turns  in  watching  the  ice-making 
and  the  weather,  so  as  to  make  the  earliest  start  pos- 
sible over  the  ice  floe  toward  land. 

When  Charnac^  took  his  turn  first  in  the  watch, 
he  felt  that  he  was  in  no  condition  to  endure  much 
exposure,  but  the  situation  itself  pleased  him.    Wha!; 


320 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


could  be  more  fitting  to  his  mental  state  than  this 
pacing  up  and  down  the  small  area  of  ice,  stepping 
softly  lest  he  break  through,  daring  not  stamp  his 
feet  to  warm  them,  and  fearing  to  build  a  fire  lest 
their  little  raft  of  ice  should  go  to  pieces  under  them. 
The  full  moon  shone  clearly,  and  the  ice  was  spark- 
ling in  the  bitter  north  wind.  His  Indians  were 
asleep  under  the  canoe. 

If  indeed  his  jolly  and  hot  blooded  confessor  was 
right  in  thinking  him  a  little  daft,  he  was  now  at 
least  in  the  full  possession  of  all  his  faculties,  in 
circumstances  which  might  easily  madden  one  whose 
nerves  were  slightly  disturbed. 

Now  that  he  had  been  relieved  of  his  stiffening, 
crouched-up  posture,  in  the  cold  canoe,  and  had 
freedom  of  motion,  he  began  to  be  warm  again. 
The  very  coldness  of  the  air  imparted  warmth  to 
his  blood,  —  or,  at  least,  he  was  not  conscious  that 
any  of  his  limbs  were  freezing. 

His  mind  was  full  of  the  roaring  tides  of  Fundy. 
Once  he  was  absolutely  sure,  that  he  saw,  approach- 
ing him  from  the  east,  a  form  of  light  stepping  airily 
from  one  ice  block  to  another.  It  approached  so  near, 
that  he  closed  his  eyes  for  dazzling.  A  crown  of  ice 
was  placed  upon  his  head.  When  he  looked  up,  he  be- 
held the  image  of  light  moving  north  in  the  teeth  of 
the  wind.  And,  before  he  could  pluck  up  courage  to 
move,  he  saw  this  form  of  light  turn,  and  blov7  upon 
him  new  and  fresher  and  colder  and  more  icy  and 
more  cutting  wind  out  of  the  North,  —  as  he  had  seen 


1 . 


IN  THE  ICE. 


321 


ihan  this 
stepping 

tamp  his 
fire  lest 

ler  them. 

IS  spark- 

ms  were 

Bssor  was 
s  now  at 
ulties,  in 
hq  whose 

stiffening, 
and  had 
m  again, 
armth  to 
lous  that 

►f  Fundy. 
approach- 
ling  airily 
d  so  near, 
wn  of  ice 
up,  he  be- 
e  teeth  of 
lourage  to 
lov7  upon 
icy  and 
had  seen 


pictures  of  Boreas  fanning  the  world  with  the  breath 
of  his  mouth. 

He  called  up  Joe,  who  took  his  turn  in  walking 
up  and  walking  down,  face  to  the  wind  and  back  to 
the  wind.  Charnacd  warmed  himself  as  well  as  he 
could  from  the  spirit  jug ;  and  wrapped  himself  in  his 
skins,  and  lay  down  to  sleep.  No,  not  to  sleep.  It 
was  too  light.  A  strange  light  was  now  in  the  west 
casting  its  rays  under  that  side  of  the  birch  most 
open;  a  light  which  outshone  the  moonbeams  that 
now  nearly  touched  his  feet.  His  head  was  almost 
burned,  as  if  by  strange  fire.  It  was,  he  thought, 
the  crown  of  ice. 

Failing  to  go  to  sleep,  he  remembered  his  life,  as 
if  numbering  his  days ;  how  he  had  grown  worse 
instead  of  better  in  the  wilderness,  and  had  sought 
meaner  things  than  that  spiritual  good  which  was  the 
dream  of  his  youth.  Why  did  he  not  when  a  boy 
follow  the  advice  of  his  dying  mother,  and  enter  the 
college  so  richly  endowed  by  Jeanne  d'Albret  and  the 
princes,  which  furnished  so  many  eminent  Protestant 
scholars  ?  He  had  given  himself  up,  under  the  di- 
rection of  his  uncle  indeed,  to  be  crooked  and  twisted 
in  soul  by  men  for  whose  spiritual  purpose  he  had  not 
now  the  slightest  respect.  For  years  he  had  forti- 
fied himself  in  the  worst  positions  he  could  take,  by 
laying  aside  his  private  judgment,  and  allowing  his 
conscience  to  waddle  about  on  duck's  legs,  —  for  this 
was  the  way  his  fat  and  oily  confessor  looked  to  him 


in  that  strange  light. 


21 


322 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


That  God  had  not  entered  into  judgment  against 
him  was  a  source  of  great  trouble.  If  he  had  only- 
met  reproof,  disaster.  But  now  all  his  worldly  plans 
had  triumphed.  He  was  at  the  very  height  of  his 
power;  and  he  despised  himself.  That  his  wicked- 
ness was  not  known,  or  recognized  to  be  such,  by 
those  around  him,  was  a  source  of  trouble.  Did  they 
see  how  it  all  looked  to  him  now,  in  that  strange 
light  ? 

"The  good  opinion  of  the  world  is  my  worst 
enemy,"  he  said,  —  startling  Madockawando,  who  now 
turned  out  to  relieve  Joe  from  pacing  athwart  their 
fast  enlarging  area  of  ice.  Joe  turned  in,  upon  the  back 
side  of  the  birch,  with  his  heels  toward  his  master. 

Charnac^  falling  into  a  little  drowse,  remembered 
the  words  spoken  to  him  by  Constance  upon  the 
evening  he  last  saw  her  in  France,  about  the  divine 
companionship ;  the  mystical  union,  as  she  called  it, 
with  the  Son  of  Man  ;  the  biblical  idea  of  the  friend- 
ship of  God  offered  personally  to  every  man,  as  he 
remembered  that  it  dawned  upon  him  on  his  last 
voyage  to  Acadia. 

It  was  now  long  since  he  had  spoken.  The  chill 
in  his  limbs  was  approaching  his  heart  by  a  thou- 
sand unseen  avenues,  as  if  moving  silently  along 
every  vein,  every  nerve,  first  freezing  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  arterial  currents. 

He  spoke  but  once:  "I  am  guilty,  weary,  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  go  to  Him  for  rest."  He  then  fell 
asleep. 


IN  THE  ICE. 


323 


The  solitary  sentinel  outside  could  hardly  keep  his 
blood  circulating;  but  he  was  startled  to  hear  the 
words  spoken  by  his  master.  The  tones  were  like 
those  of  a  little  child  dreaming  of  some  far  away 
land  of  the  sun,  —  dreaming  of  light ;  although 
black  clouds  were  fast  rising,  and  sweeping  over 
the  moon,  —  in  token  of  an  approaching  change  of 
weather. 

Stark  and  cold  was  the  body  of  their  master,  which 
was  borne  homeward  when  the  shift  of  the  wind  re- 
lieved them. 

Dark  hued  mourners  went  about  the  streets  of 
still  Castine,  —  so  much  more  silent  then  than  now. 
The  Tarratines,  at  least,  sorrowed  for  the  dead. 


r 


324 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


XXXVIII. 

THE  JESUIT  FATHERS  SAY  MASS  FOR  THE 
REPOSE  OF  THE  DEAD. 


■pRA  CUPAVO,  now  in  middle  life,  was  the  son 
•'-  of  an  old  family  servant  of  the  house  of  Baron 
Charnac^,  in  Bretagne.  When  the  Governor  of 
Acadia  was  a  student  at  St.  Pol  de  Leon,  in  visit- 
ing the  family  seat  where  his  father  was  born,  he 
saw  one  day  Silvestre  Cupavo,  in  broad  black  hat, 
long  black  hair,  and  square  cut  coat,  advancing 
toward  him  with  slow  and  heavy  step,  and  religious 
mien.  The  old  man  had  much  to  say  about  his  own 
son  the  friar,  who,  having  completed  his  studies  at 
St.  Pol  de  Leon,  had  long  since  gone  as  the  first 
Jesuit  missionary  to  Acadia. 

Poutrincourt,  sorely  against  his  own  will,  but  in 
obedience  to  his  King,  took  out  Fra  Cupavo  to 
America.  Biencourt  was  so  far  the  sou  of  his 
father,  according  to  the  Jesuits,  as  to  prepare  a 
whipping  post,  to  keep  them  to  line.  Cupavo  was 
put  in  such  temper,  not  to  say  mass  for  three 
months ;  but  finally  he  wrote  a  flattering  letter  to 
the  King,  in  regard  to  the  master  .of  Port  Royal,  — 
and  sent  with  it  a  secret  request  for  fitting  out  a 


THE  JESUITS'   MASS. 


325 


colony  for  Pemetic.  In  this  company  came  Fra 
Le  Vilin.  Sir  Samuel  Argal  of  Virginia,  violent, 
cruel,  rapacious,  broke  up  this  settlement. 

Cupavo,  upon  being  taken  to  Virginia,  persuaded 
the  authorities  to  go  under  his  guidance  to  destroy 
Port  Eoyal.  Biencourt  and  six  of  his  comrades  sent 
a  petition  to  Governor  Dale  to  hang  the  priest.  But 
Argal  in  returning  south  was  driven  to  Fayal  by  a 
storm ;  and  he  was  persuaded,  as  the  easiest  way  to 
get  rid  of  his  priests,  to  send  them  to  England. 

Cupavo  had  vowed,  that,  if  he  should  escape,  he 
would  change  the  hearts  of  many  savages  in  Acadia; 
so  that  he  was  eager  to  return  with  Oharnac^,  —  find- 
ing special  favor,  for  his  father's  sake. 

Fra  Le  Vilin  had  made  himself  somewhat  famous, 
as  being  the  only  man  in  La  Saussaye's  Pemetic 
colony,  who  —  upon  the  sudden  appearance  of  Ar- 
gal —  was  plucky  enough  to  pop  up  and  fire  a  can- 
non, after  the  commander  had  repeatedly  yelled, — 
"  Fire !  Fire ! "  To  be  sure,  he  did  not  think  to  aim 
before  he  fired;  but  the  old  historian  gravely  re- 
marked, that  the  gun  made  as  much  noise  as  if  it 
had  been  English. 

If  the  Protestant  clergy  of  England  in  that  age  of 
Jameses  and  Charleses  had  lived  more  nearly  by  gos- 
pel rule,  the  Catholic  clergy  of  France  in  the  age  of 
liichelieu  might  have  been  held  to  stricter  account ; 
a?  it  was,  the  rich  curates  spent  their  time  in  hunt- 
ing, and  the  poor  in  drinking.^    Some  of  the  worst  of 

^  Masson's  Richelieu,  p.  2. 


326 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


i 


men  crept  into  the  Society  of  Jesus.  The  French 
settlers  at  Biguydnce  were,  says  Wheeler's  Castine,^ 
very  ignorant  and  depraved ;  and  they  were  excessive 
bigots  in  their  religion:  and  the  government  was 
purely  a  military  despotism.  Cupavo  and  Le  Vilin 
were  not  lacking  in  elasticity  of  conscience;  and 
their  devices  were  protean  shapes  of  the  same  re- 
ligion.    Of  course  what  they  did  was  religious. 

The  sudden  judgment  upon  Charnac^  was  all  ex- 
plained to  the  faithful  and  simple  minded  Indian 
saints.  The  Governor  had  greatly  erred  by  taking 
with  him,  upon  this  fatal  voyage,  the  blood  stained 
Bible,  which  had  been  his  constant  companion  since 
he  left  the  St.  John.  It  was  sure  to  bring  misfortune ; 
indeed,  he  had  never  been  quite  himself  since  he  had 
it.  The  fathers,  it  is  said,  smiled  perceptibly  through 
their  tears,  when  they  saw  this  book  whose  fine  La 
Rochelle  letterpress  had  been  stained  by  the  blood  of 
an  arch  heretic. 

Before  the  body  of  the  Governor  of  Acadia  could 
be  laid  to  rest  in  the  fresh  earth  of  Nautilus  Island, 
the  fathers  decided  that  it  would  be  needful  to  say  a 
hundred  masses  for  the  repose  of  the  inquiet  dead. 
In  fact  the  mourning  friars  declared  that  a  purse  of 
gold  had  been  handed  them  by  their  late  master,  as 
one  of  his  last  pious  acts,  to  celebrate  masses  for  his 
soul,  in  event  any  casualty  should  ever  overtake  him 
in  his  perilous  jour.  .eys. 

Jean  Cupavo  did  not,  however,  in  his  mourning, 

1  p.  19. 


h  1  ■ 


e  French 
Castine,^ 
excessive 
aent  was 
Le  Vilin 
ice ;  and 
same  re- 
us. 

as  all  ex- 
jd  Indian 
by  taking 
)d  stained 
lion  since 
lisfortune ; 
ice  he  had 
y  through 
oe  fine  La 
le  blood  of 

idia  could 
lus  Island, 
il  to  say  a 
^uiet  dead, 
a  purse  of 
master,  as 
ses  for  his 
3rtake  him 

mourning, 


■•'  /• 


THE  JESUITS'  MASS. 


327 


altogether  lose  his  wits.  "What  is  to  become  of 
all  the  Governor's  property  ? "  asked  the  priest. 
"  Is  our  mission  of  Saint  Ignatius  to  exist  only  on 
paper  ?  To  be  sure  His  Excellency  left  no  will  or 
wife ;  but  with  the  Church  all  things  are  possible." 

Was  it  possible,  also,  that  the  Church  would  avenge 
the  father  «.•  ufessor  for  the  loss  of  the  lobes  of  his 
ears,  which  he  had  borne  without  a  wrinkle  or 
apparent  disturbance  of  temper  ?  Silent  grudges 
have  often  borne  an  important  part  in  the  great 
crises  of  history.     Why  not  in  Acadia  ? 

The  jolly  confessor,  late  conscience  to  the  rightful 
ruler  of  New  France,  chuckled  when  he  thought  of 
another  grudge  to  gratify.  He  had  a  grudge,  — 
easily  satisfied  with  some  grim  joke,  —  against  the 
widow  Berni^res ;  so  long  a  resident,  so  fair,  and 
nnmated.  To  avenge  his  own  ill  success  with  her, 
and  to  excuse  his  own  multifarious  wrong  doing,  it 
had  been  his  habit  now  for  a  long  time  to  slander 
her  guardedly,  —  lest  she  know  it,  and  his  master 
know  it;  —  stating  with  due  secrecy  that  she  was 
the  Governor's  wife.  Had  not  his  master  confessed 
it?  The  secret  marriage  might  now  surely  be 
declared. 

He  went  to  the  widow.  She  was  still  young,  and 
of  unfeded  beauty.  Her  husband,  Alexandr<^,  a  fur 
trader,  had  been  lost  upon  the  Eipogenus  Falls,  a 
few  months  after  his  arrival.  With  admirable  good 
sense,  and  the  business  turn  displayed  by  so  many 
of  her  countrywomen,  she  had   maintained   herself 


328 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


by  trafficking  in  furs,  in  a  small  way,  upon  her  own 
account.  She  was  amiable,  bright,  and  the  best  of 
company.  The  Governor  had  indeed  now  and  then 
laughed  for  an  hour  in  her  society,  before  he  ceased 
to  smile. 

Best  of  all,  she  was  devout ;  and  her  faith  in  the 
absolute  supremacy  upon  this  earth  of  the  Vicar  of 
God  had  never  been  in  the  slightest  degree  disturbed. 
Fra  Le  Vilin,  her  confessor,  who  better  observed  his 
vows  than  Cupavo,  had  used  the  utmost  care  never 
to  shock  her  faith  in  the  immaculate  living  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Church.  And  she  had  a  pru- 
dish antipathy  to  gossip,  so  that  the  few  women  in 
the  settlement  had  their  mouths  stopped  when  they 
ventured  into  her  presence.  It  was  often  said,  that 
the  Governor  ought  to  marry  her;  that  perhaps  he 
would;  and  the  story  so  slyly  circulated,  —  by  the 
officiars  confessor,  —  that  he  had  done  so  in  secret, 
found  easy  credence.  Everybody  knew  it,  as  soon 
as  the  Governor  was  dead ;  everybody  expected  her 
to  appear  in  mourning,  —  everybody  except  herself. 

When  Jean  Cupavo,  who  was  the  brain  of  the 
Jesuit  mission  in  Acadia,  went  down  to  call  upon 
the  widow,  he  thought  he  would  break  the  news  to 
her  —  as  gently  as  he  could  with  his  tongue  of  oil  — 
that  she  was  indeed  the  widow  of  the  Governor. 

He  knew  that  she  had  a  nose  of  wax,  for  priestly 
fingering,  —  if  the  good  of  the  Church  was  plainly  set 
before  her.  Had  not  Laurent  Le  Vilin,  her  confessor, 
told  him  so  ? 


THE  JESUITS'  MASS. 


329 


her  own 
3  best  of 
and  then 
[le  ceased 

h  in  the 
Vicar  of 
listurbed. 
3rved  his 
ire  never 
ng  of  the 
id  a  pru- 
i^omen  in 
hen  they 
said,  that 
srhaps  he 
—  by  the 
in  secret. 
,  as  soon 
3cted  her 
lerself. 
n  of  the 
all  upon 

news  to 
of  oil  — 
nor. 

priestly 
lainly  set 
3onfessor, 


To  his  surprise,  she  was  unwilling  to  remain  with 
him  alone.  There  might  be  scandal  with  him  in  the 
house.  She  had  heard  nothing  to  the  discredit  of  the 
keeper  of  His  Excellency's  conscience,  at  least  nothing 
which  she  would  allow,  in  her  simple  faith ;  but  she 
had  the  fine  instincts  of  a  woman.  She  said,  upon 
learning  that  he  had  important  matters  about  which 
he  wished  to  talk  with  her,  that  she  would  see  him, 
—  if  he  would  come  with  her  confessor. 

They  talked  no  small  part  of  the  night,  —  the 
three.  And  the  night  was  very  cold ;  the  fire  upon 
the  hearth  was  low,  but  the  wid<^w  would  not  rise  to 
re-kindle  it.  She  hoped  they  would  freeze,  and  go. 
But  they  had  drank  too  much  good  wine  to  feel  the 
cold. 

"The  time  requires  haste  in  the  decision,"  urged 
Le  Vilin,  "The  funeral  cannot  be  long  deferred; 
and  we  have  said  twenty-five  of  the  masses  already." 

It  was  explained  to  her,  and  she  caught  at  it  in  an 
instant,  that  all  the  property  would  be  lost  to  the 
mission ;  that  she  was  providentially  there  to  save 
it;  that,  in  perfectly  honorable  widowhood,  she 
could  bear  the  name  of  the  Governor;  that  he  had 
greatly  desired  to  make  her  his  wife;  that  he  had 
often  spoken  Ox  it  to  his  confessor ;  that  he  had,  the 
day  before  he  embarked,  drafted  a  will  and  executed 
it  in  her  favor,  —  naming  her  as  his  wife ;  that  the 
will  gave  large  money  to  the  mission,  and  to  estab- 
lish the  plantation  and  mission  of  St.  Ignatius ;  that 
the  neighbors  already  believed,  since  the  Governor 


■  i 


330 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


had  so  often  spoken  of  it,  and  spoken  so  freely,  that 
she  was  his  wife  by  secret  marriage. 

It  was  all  very  wonderful.  But  had  not  Provi- 
dence,—  asked  Le  Vilin,  —  prepared  her  mind  to 
take  such  a  step  for  the  advancement  of  the  interests 
of  the  Church  ?  The  widow  did  not  need  to  be  re- 
minded, she  knew  the  story  too  well,  of  the  course 
taken  by  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  the  founder  of  the 
Ursuline  convent  at  Quebec ;  who  had,  —  upon  ad- 
vice of  her  confessor  and  the  advice  of  the  confessor 
of  Alexandra  Bernieres  older  brother,  and  other  emi- 
nent divines,  —  feigned  a  marriage  with  M.  de  Ber- 
nieres, a  bachelor  of  rank  and  of  great  wealth  and 
devoted  to  the  Church,  in  order  to  deceive  her 
own  father,  who  had  threatened  to  disinherit  her  if 
she  should  pledge  her  patrimony  to  the  Canadian 
mission. 

Still,  it  was  all  talked  over  again  by  her  artful  ad- 
visers, as  if  she  had  never  heard  of  it.  And  the  points 
in  Madame  de  la  Peltrie's  piety  were  brought  out 
with  remarkable  skill,  —  and  the  holy  life  of  Alex- 
andra Bernieres'  brother  was  well  known  to  her. 
What  wonder,  if  her  conscience,  so  informed,  did 
not  shrink  from  following  the  cue  given  by  Cupavo. 

"  If  I  should  do  it,"  said  the  nose  of  wax,  "  it  would 
be  to  please  my  Mother,  the  Church." 

She  demanded,  however,  to  see  the  will.  They 
agreed  to  produce  it,  when  they  should  meet  again. 

It  all  ended,  at  near  day  dawn ;  and  the  widow's 
pearl}^  teeth  were   chattering  with  the   cold.      She 


THE  JESUITS'  MASS. 


331 


resorted  late  to  restorative  wine,  and  buried  her- 
,  self  in  her  furs,  locked  her  house,  and  went  to  bed 
to  prevent  dying  of  the  cold  she  had  taken.  The 
neighbors  said  that  the  poor  thing  was  inconsolable 
and  physically  prostrated  with  grief,  —  now  widowed 
a  second  time,  and  that  too  when  so  young. 

The  widow,  H^loise,  was  not  however  do  sick,  but 
that  she  could  give  strict  attention  to  business.  She 
had  more  mind  of  her  own  than  the  fathers  had  given 
her  credit  for.  Long  ambitious  in  secret  to  become  the 
Governor's  wife,  why  not  accept  the  situation ;  and, 
—  as  he  did  whom  she  admired,  —  use  the  Jesuits  ? 
She  was  devout,  loyal  to  the  Church:  that  might 
be,  —  without  her  being  led  at  will  by  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  whose  refinements,  justifying  the  worst,  did  not 
please  her.  Their  ethics,  however,  were  suited  to  her 
mind  in  the  mood,  —  or  her  plan  rather,  —  of  the 
hour. 

If  the  graves  of  Castine  were  to  give  up  their  dead, 
a  strange  story  would  be  told  of  the  masses  said  that 
day  over  the  cold  clay  in  the  little  stone  church  with 
its  blood  colored  windows  and  ghastly  walls. 

Roland  Capon,  and  the  two  friars,  prepared  the  will 
and  witnessed  it.  The  grim  father  confessor,  so  fat, 
so  ruddy,  himself  turned  pale  as  the  dead,  when  he 
kneeled  upon  the  cold  stone  floor,  placed  the  parch- 
ment upon  the  ice  cold  body,  and  forged  the  signa- 
ture of  the  now  dishonored  Governor. 

The  widow  Hdloise  after  dusk  saw  the  will,  and 
consented ;   being  warmer  than  she  was  the  night 


332 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


before,  with  a  roaring  fire  of  walnut.  Nothing  more 
was  said  or  done  that  night.  It  was,  however,  sug- 
gested that  perhaps  tlie  widow  would  visit  the  church 
privately  upon  the  morrow ;  and  attend  to  tlie  cele- 
bration of  more  masses  for  the  repose  of  tlio  inquiet 
dead,  —  and  receive  some  portion  of  the  property,  in 
order  that  she  might  better  incur  the  expenses  of  the 
funeral. 

When  the  widow,  —  now  indeed  doubly  a  widow, 
and  that  so  young,  —  visited  the  clmrch  upon  the 
morrow,  she  was  surprised  to  see  the  festive  air  the 
grisly  church  had  put  on,  for  the  celebration  of  cere- 
monies for  the  repose  of  the  troubled  dead. 

There  were  a  few  white  artificial  flowers  standing 
upon  a  table,  arranged  in  the  figure  of  a  cross.  Be- 
hind it  was  a  curtain  of  crimson  and  gold.  She  was 
requested  to  'stand  beside  the  table,  to  receive  her 
marriage  portion.  A  liand,  —  which  from  a  well 
known  scar,  she  knew  to  be  the  hand  of  the  Gov- 
ernor,— was  extended  between  the  folds  of  the  cur- 
tain of  crimson  and  gold;  and  from  his  hand  she 
received  her  marriage  portion,  in  a  paper  represent- 
ing fifty  thousand  livres. 

The  widow  Bernieres  was  requested  now  to  take 
the  hand  of  the  Governor  in  her  right  hand ;  and 
they  were,  hand  in  hand,  pronounced  to  bo  husband 
and  wife.  She  shrieked  with  terror,  and  fell  to  the 
floor. 


THE    WIDOW  BEBNll'IiES. 


333 


ung  more 
ever,  sug- 
[le  cliurch 
tlic  cele- 
10  inquiet 
operty,  in 
ses  of  the 


XXXIX. 


THE  WIDOW  berniI:res. 


a  widow, 
upon  the 
re  air  the 
n  of  cere- 

1  standing 

ross.  Be- 
She  was 

ceive  her 
a   well 

the  Gov- 
the  cur- 

mnd  she 

represent- 
to  take 

and ;  and 
husband 

ill  to  the 


n 


/^HARLES  LA  TOUIl  married  tlie  widow  of  his 
^-^  worst  enemy,  —  as  if  a  farce  should  follow  a 
tragedy.  The  truth  is  always  stranger  than  fiction ; 
and  no  romance  can  be  so  wild  as  the  sober  story 
of  the  seventeenth  century  in  the  coast  towns  of 
dull  and  unromantic  Maine,  Nova  Scotia,  and  New 
Brunswick. 

When  La  Tour  returned  on  Easter  rnorang  from 
his  India  traffic  to  the  neighborhood  of  his  home, 
learniii^  from  fugitives  the  extent  of  his  disaster,  he 
set  a  watch  upon  the  movements  of  Charnac^,  with 
the  full  purpose  to  take  his  life  whenever  he  should 
emerge  from  the  fort.  He  had  not  seen  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  funereal  birch  upon  the  lower  side  of  the 
fort,  but  in  the  distance  he  thouf!li:  that  he  recognized 
the  dark  plume  of  his  enemy,  and  Jean  Pitchibat 
knew  his  peculiar  paddle  stroke  ;  —  it  was  when  the 
Indian  spy  and  his  master  were  standing  at  the 
masked  battery. 

One  of  the  papers  which  Charnacd  sent  to  General 
La  Tour   by  his   chaplain,  was  a  letter  from 
stance :  — 


Con- 


334 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


Home.     Before  the  dawn  of  Easter, 
My  Beloved, — 

I  am  always  praying  for  you.  God  give  you  the 
highest  boon,  even  His  own  presence  in  the  wilderness.  I 
long  for  your  coming.  Unless  we  have  some  traitor  here, 
which  God  forfend,  I  shall  be  able  t^  hold  the  fortress. 

If  there  is  any  real  peril,  and  God  so  wills,  —  I  shall 
die  in  defence  of  our  home  and  the  religious  purpose  of 
our  lives. 

I  would  that  our  dear  child  were  in  France. 

Constance. 


So  long  as  Constance  lived,  Charles  la  Tour  M^as 
better  than  himself;  he  was  upheld  morally,  and 
kept  to  a  moderately  conscientious  career.  After  her 
death  there  was,  as  compared  with  his  former  self,  a 
collapse. 

The  communication  sent  by  Charnac^  to  La  Tour 
was  a  very  remarkable  one,  and  every  way  worthy 
the  better  nature  of  the  man,  and  going  far  to  atone 
for  the  well  known  faults  of  his  character.  He 
enclosed  the  King's  order  for  La  Tour's  arrest ;  stat- 
ing that  he  should  not  molest  him,  if  he  followed  the 
things  making  for  peace.  And,  with  far  reaching 
foresight,  looking  toward  the  peace  of  Acadia,  he 
3ent  a  document,  witnessed  by  Jean  Cupavo,  ordering 
his  subordinates  upon  the  Penobnot,  in  the  event  of 
his  own  decease,  —  First,  to  recognize  La  Tour  as 
their  superior ;  and  Second,  to  co-operate  with  him  at 
Versailles  to  secure  his  re-commission  as  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  Acadia;  and  Third,  to  turn  over  to  La 


THE  WIDOW  BEBNl^BES. 


335 


'aster, 

70X1  the 
•ness.  I 
tor  here, 
stress. 
-I  shall 
rpose  of 


CJSTANCE. 

Dur  was 
lly,  and 
ifter  her 
31  self,  a 

La  Tour 
worthy 
to  atone 
er.    He 
t;  stat- 
wed  the 
caching 
idia,  he 
ordering 
vent  of 
Tour  as 
1  him  at 
jutenant 
jr  to  La 


Tour  any  personal  property  that  he  might  be  possessed 
of  at  the  time  of  his  decease.  The  amazing  energy  and 
practical  sagacity  of  La  Tour  were  alluded  to,  as  be- 
ing of  great  future  service  to  Acadia,  in  event  of  his 
own  demise. 

Upon  the  strength  of  this  document,  General  La 
Tour  ventured  with  a  few  faithful  retainers,  into  the 
neighborhood  of  Biguyduce,  early  in  May ;  in  the 
expectation,  —  if  the  way  should  prove  clear,  —  of 
offering  to  serve  under  Charnacd,  for  the  develop- 
ment of  Acadia ;  that  henceforth  they  should  work 
together  for  the  good  of  New  France,  rather  than 
contend  with  each  other  personally. 

Of  the  two  steep  hills  behind  Castine,  the  one  east 
of  the  great  hill  on  the  Penobscot  is  the  present  site 
of  the  Maine  Normal  School  building.  It  was  here 
that  La  Tour  stood  upon  the  morning  of  Charnac^'s 
burial.  The  cold  wave  had  passed  by ;  the  light  and 
glow  of  spring  appeared  for  a  few  hours,  —  to  be 
succeeded  by  the  chill,  and  warmth,  and  alternations 
of  an  Acadian  May.  La  Tour  could  not  but  think 
how  often  he  had  stood  there  with  Constance,  sweep- 
ing the  horizon ;  he  looked  north  to  the  headland  on 
the  river  where  Governor  Pownal,  a  century  and  a 
half  later,  built  his  fort,  —  to  the  Blue  Hill  rising 
north  of  east,  and  the  intervening  expanse  of  the 
winding  Biguyduce,  —  to  the  Pemetic  mountains  on 
the  east,  and  to  the  heights  southwest,  standing  as 
mighty  fortresses  of  the  shining  Bay  on  the  south, — 
to  the  great  islands  of  the  Bay  westerly,  and  Megun- 


336 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


ticut  rising  against  the  sky,  —  to  Passageewakeag  in 
the  northwest,  where  the  strange  story  of  recent 
years  has  told  us  that  La  Tour's  great  enemy  has  been 
seen  under  the  clear  waters  ploughing  up  the  harbor 
bottom,  to  increase  the  depth  near  the  spot  where  he 
grounded  his  ships. 

From  this  height  La  Tour  saw  the  funereal  cortege 
emerge  from  the  church ;  and  he  watched  the  flotilla 
of  canoes  which  moved  toward  Nautilus  Island  ;  and 
saw  afar  the  burial  train  when  it  re-formed  upon 
the  shore,  and  disappeared  in  the  pines.  Constance 
with  her  spiritual  nature  might  have  divined  what 
great  man  had  fallen ;  but  Charles  la  Tour  reasoned 
like  a  military  man,  that  it  was  a  favorable  time  to 
explore  the  settlement  when  the  inhabitants  and 
even  the  garrison  were  for  the  most  part  absent. 
Stealing  with  fox -like  tread  among  the  thickets,  he 
descended  the  slope,  and  approached  the  hamlet.  He 
saw  a  few  Indian  women,  watching  the  water  for  the 
reappearance  of  the  mourners.  And  he  listened  to 
their  conversation. 

They  were  debating  the  merits  of  tlie  deceased.  It 
had  been  a  shock  to  them,  that  a  rumor  of  possible 
heresy  had  been  floating  over  the  village  ;  so  that  on 
this  account  the  priests  had  been  more  willing  to 
adopt  Joe  Takouchin's  notion  to  bury  the  Governor's 
body  upon  the  island,  out  of  the  church  shadow. 
Joe's  wife  settled  the  matter  once  for  all  by  al- 
luding to  the  character  of  Constance;  and  saying 
that  any  one  who  was  devoted  as  he  was  to  such 


THE   WIDOW  BERNIERE8. 


337 


ikeag  in 
recent 
las  been 
I  harbor 
here  he 

.  cortege 
3  flotilla 
ad ;  and 
3d  upon 
onstance 
ed  what 
reasoned 
time  to 
,nts  and 
;  absent, 
ckets,  he 
ilet.  He 
r  for  the 
tened  to 

ased.  It 
possible 
)  that  on 
illiug  to 
overnor's 
shadow. 
I  by  al- 
saying 
to  such 


a  woman,  was  as  near  to  being  a  saint  as  Fra 
Cupavo. 

La  Tour  withdrew  a  little  from  Joe's  lodge,  and 
awaited  his  return.  By  the  aid  of  this  trusty  servant, 
—  who  had  made  sure  before  daylight  to  bury  Con- 
stance's Bible  in  Charnacd's  grave,  stealing  it  away 
from  Cupavo's  cabin,  —  a. private  hour  was  secured 
from  the  reverend  father,  when  Joe  might  see  him  in 
the  evening.  La  Tour  went  with  Joe  to  see  the 
'  priest.  His  business  was  broached  with  such  delicacy, 
that  General  La  Tour  and  the  Jesuit  were  soon  upon 
c  asy  terms  for  conversation. 

"  The  late  Governor,"  remarked  La  Tour,  after  drain- 
ing his  second  glass,  and  kindling  his  tobacco  in 
Cupavo's  cosey  bachelor's  den,  "  sent  to  me  a  certain 
paper  looking  toward  the  peace  of  Acadia ;  for  the 
promotion  of  which  he  desired  the  co-operation  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus.  I  have  therefore  determined, 
for  myself,  although  not  yet  convinced  that  you  are 
right,  at  least  to  make  no  stand  upon  matters  of  faith. 
Why  should  we  repeat  here  the  religious  wars  which 
have  torn  in  pieces  our  beloved  France  ? " 

"But  you  have  no  treasury  to  fall  back  upon," 
interposed  the  practicd  priest. 

"  My  money  which  I  lost  by  the  fortunes  of  war  is 
indeed  in  France,  in  the  care  of  my  son's  guardian ; 
but  it  can  never  earn  so  much  in  Brittany  as  it  will 
if  reinvested  in  Acadia."  Then  he  looked  sharply  at 
the  priest.  He  saw  nothing  but  a  still  cold  glitter  in  his 
immovable  eyes,  so  well  walled  up  in  adipose  tissue. 


oo 


■•^r*" 


338 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


"  The  late  Gc  ernor,"  added  La  Tour,  "  executed  a 
pi; per,  devoting  t,  my  use  iu  our  Acadian  enterprises 
whatever  property  he  might  have  at  his  decease.  You 
must  remember  witnessing  to  the  signature." 

Je^n  Cupavo  involuntarily  felt  for  the  lobes  of  his 
ears ;  first  one,  then  the  other.  "  I  could  better  re- 
member, if  I  should  sec  the  document." 

La  Tour  produced  the  paper ;  but  so  held  it,  that 
the  priest  could  read  without  taking  it  in  hand. 
Cupavo  had  not  read  it  when  witnessing  to  the  Gov- 
ernor's signature,  and  he  desired  to  take  it  into  his 
own  hands ;  as  he  said,  —  for  more  convenient  read- 
ing. At  this  instant  Joe  drew  near.  The  priest  saw 
at  his  side,  gleaming  in  the  fire  light,  a  long  knife 
held  in  the  Indian's  right  hand.  The  Jesuit's  urgency 
to  take  the  document  into  his  own  hands  was  abated ; 
but  his  face  turned  red  with  rage,  like  a  Castine  lob- 
ster.    But  he  checked  himself  from  speaking. 

Next  moment,  presto,  the  protean  priest,  who 
had  spent  years  in  adapting  himself  to  circum- 
stances, burst  into  a  most  immoderate  fit  of  laugh- 
ter ;  shaking  his  immense  body,  as  if  he  had  earth- 
quakes within.  It  seemed  that  he  would  never  be 
done. 

Discerning  the  manner  of  man  before  him, — pliant 
as  to  his  faith,  keen  for  a  bargain,  not  unwilling  to 
co-operate  with  the  Brotherhood  of  Loyola,  —  it  had 
occurred  to  Cupavo  to  propose  to  La  Tour  a  marriage 
with  the  late  Governor's  widow,  as  the  easiest  and 
wisest  way  to  compromise. 


THE  WIDOW  BERNIERE8. 


339 


eciited  a 
terprises 
se.   You 

Bs  of  his 
)etter  re- 

1  it,  that 
in  hand, 
the  Gov- 
;  into  his 
ent  read- 
>riest  saw 
)ng  knife 
s  urgency 
IS  abated ; 
stine  lob- 

g- 

iest,   who 

circum- 
of  laugh- 
lad  earth- 
never  be 

I, — pliant 
willing  to 
—  it  had 
I  marriage 
asiest  and 


Apologizing  for  his  unseasonable  mirth,  he  prof- 
fered his  guest  the  choicest  of  his  wine ;  and  in  what 
was  apparently  the  most  irrelevant  manner,  began  to 
shift  the  conversation  into  a  jovial  come-and-go,  — 
touching  La  Tour  here  and  there,  as  if  he  would 
sound  him  through  and  through,  and  know  every  part 
of  his  nature  :  — 

"Are  not  the  wines  of  France  improved  by  sea- 
voyaging  and  the  quality  of  soil  in  our  Acadian  cel- 
lars ? "  "  We  could  get  on  much  better  with  you,  in 
the  business  you  propose,  if  you  were  to  take  a  devout 
Catholic  for  your  wife."  "Let  me  fill  your  glass. 
Which  do  you  prefer,  the  brandy  of  Bayonne  or  of 
N"antz  ? "  "  Did  you  not  know,  that  the  Governor's 
property  went  to  his  wife  ?  He  was  secretly  married ; 
and  gave  only  a  mere  sop  to  the  Church."  "  How 
much  was  the  lf>st  year  fur  trade  worth  upon  the  St. 
John  ? "  "  The  Governor's  widow  is  very  handsome. 
I  'd  marry  her  myself,  if  it  were  not  for  my  vows." 
"I  fear  that  your  pipe  does  not  suit  you."  "The 
woman  is  pious,  and  will  do  well  by  the  Church  with 
her  money ;  and  your  Eastern  trade  will  suppo.  t  you  in 
great  expenditure,  besides  your  contributions  to  our 
poor  mission.  Then  there  will  be  peace  in  Acadia ; 
and  we  shall  have  leisure  to  baptize  the  savages 
instead  of  fighting  you." 

The  jocund  priest  now  renewed  his  untimely  mirth ; 
knowing  not  how  horrible  the  proposition  seemed  to 
La  Tour.  Cupavo  had,  however,  used  the  liquors 
freely ;  and  he  ran  on  from  one  thing  to  another,  with 


340 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


execute  an  agreement 
the  basis  for 


a  vast  deal  cf  method  in  his  mad  talk,  changing  from 
grave  to  gay,  or  mirth  to  melancholy,  as  might  best 
compel  his  guest  to  keep  up  his  end  of  the  conversa- 
tion. La  Tour  observed  that  his  host  merely  sipped 
from  his  cup ;  that  his  free  rambling  without  reason 
was  nonsense  only  in  appearance,  as  the  Jesuit  changed 
from  relevant  to  irrelevant  topics  in  a  gossiping  way 
hardly  pausing  for  a  reply. 

The  proposition  was  at  last  baldly  made  by  the 
priest,  that  La  Tour  should 
to   marry  the   Governor's   widow,   as 
harmonizing  all  interests  in  Acadia. 

For  once  La  Tour's  self-satisfaction  and  even-bal- 
ance was  disturbed  ;  although  not  visibly  so  in  that 
dim  apartment,  whose  darkness  was  only  made  the 
more  apparent  by  the  smoking  wick  upon  the  dark 
and  greasy  table. 

When  the  wood  fire  flickered,  and  for  a  moment 
illuminated  the  rusty  and  baggy  suit  of  Cupavo, 
and  kindled  his  red  face,  it  only  revealed  to  La 
Tour  sharp  eyes  penetrating  his  secret  thoughts 
and  reading  his  decision  in  his  indecision.  There 
was  something  almost  jaunty  in  the  priest's  sombre 
clothing,  and  in  the  way  he  wore  his  black  cap 
when  he  accompanied  General  La  Tour  to  the 
door.  The  point  he  had  made,  had  punctured  the 
reserve  of  his   guest;   and  he  was  likely  to  hear 


iTom  him  further. 

It  was  lighter  out  of  doors  than  it  was  within  the 
Breton's  rough  hewn  logs  of  cedar. 


The  dawn  with 


'V  if. 


THE   WIDOW  BERNIERES. 


341 


light  tints  was  already  touching  the  rnirror-like  har- 
bor of  Biguyduce.  La  Touv's  canoe  was  soon  gliding 
over  the  shining  expanse ;  and,  before  the  sun  was 
up,  he  stood  at  the  grave  of  Charnacd  upon  the  isle  of 
Nautilus. 


342 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


XL. 


BEFORE  SUNRISE  aND  AFTER  SUNSET. 


1 


/^HARLES  LA  TOUR'S  heart  was  troubled;  he 
^-^  had  no  home,  —  his  child  in  Bretagne,  his 
wife  singing  among  saints  glorified.  Should  he  now 
think  on  God  ?     He  thought  on  La  Tour. 

His  enemy  was  dead.  Here  was  his  grave.  This 
was  satisfactory.  That  he  had  been  bewitched  in  his 
last  days  seemed  probable ;  Era  Cupavo  was  probably 
right  in  this.  His  actions  could  not  be  accounted  for 
upon  rational  principles.  Alas,  he  feared,  that  his 
poor  dying  Constance  must  have  had  something  to  do 
with  it ;  as  Charnac^'s  strange  conduct  had  begun  in 
the  very  hour  of  victory. 

Now  here  was  this  same  Cupavo  —  with  ears 
wisely  shortened  —  attempting  to  bewitch  La  Tour. 
He  did  not  like  it.  It  was  inappropriate  at  this 
time. 

But  what  should  he  do  about  the  property  ?  The 
widow  had  it.  He  had  nothing.  He  would  have 
nothing  till  the  return  of  his  packet,  —  enough  for  a 
trader,  but  not  for  a  Governor.  He  would  consider 
the  situation. 


BEFORE  SUNRISE  AND  AFTER  SUNSET     343 

With  au  excellent  appetite,  he  drew  from  his  hav- 
ersack his  simple  Micmac  fare,  dried  herring  and 
parched  corn ;  and,  —  stretching  under  the  pines  near 
where  Charnacd's  body  was  at  rest, — he  broke  his  fast. 

A  strange  light  —  not  of  the  sun  which  was  still, 
below  the  horizon  —  kindled  in  the  thicket  of  firs 
upon  the  north  ;  and  threw  a  strong  shadow  of  the 
trunk  of  the  pine  tree,  under  which  he  was  lying, 
athwart  the  grave.  La  Tour  hardly  noticed  it.  His 
mind  was  confused  by  the  coming  in  of  thoughts 
unusual  to  him. 

What  was  there  in  the  hour,  the  place,  which  exer- 
cised a  Rtrange  spell  over  him  ?  Why  had  he  been 
the  enemy  of  Charnac^  ?  Taking  from  his  pocket 
the  personal  card  which  his  enemy  had  left  with  him 
upon  their  first  interview  at  Cape  Sable,  he  read  it 
over,  —  "Charles  de  Menou,  Sieur  lliiaire  Charnacd." 
Charles  la  Tour  then  arose,  and  laid  the  card  rever- 
ently upon  the  head  of  the  grave  toward  the  west ; 
and  he  said  :  "  God  do  so  to  me,  —  if  I  ever  remem- 
ber his  faults,  or  say  auglit  but  good  of  his  memory." 

Then  he  noticed  the  strange  shadow  across  the  sod ; 
but  the  light  was  suddenly  withdrawn,  and  he  never 
saw  it  again. 

It  might  have  been  his  dry  herring  which  reminded 
him  of  his  rolling  reverence  Jean  Cupavo,  so  dry,  so 
thirsty,  so  smoky,  so  little  to  his  taste ;  he  must 
be  one  of  the  worst  of  men,  who  would  stop  at 
nothing. 

It  would,  however,  be  proper  for  him  to  offer  con- 


344 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


' 


dolence  to  the  widow.  He  would  like  to  see  her. 
Perhaps  he  would  call. 

And  he  wondered  how  much  property  his  rival  had 
left.  The  income,  for  a  long  time,  must  have  been 
more  than  one  hundred  thousand  livres.  Fra  Cupavo 
ought,  indeed,  to  havn  a  hearing.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  get  possession,  upon  the  strength  of  his  document 
under  Charnacd's  own  hand,  unless  the  fathers  were 
favorable  and  the  widow  with  her  later  testament  was 
favorable.  He  must  not  fail  to  reflect  upon  the  sit- 
uation in  which  he  found  himself  —  alone  in  that 
spring  morning,  upon  the  tide  washed  isle,  at  the  new 
grave  of  his  fallen  foe,  and  a  scheming  priest  and 
handsome  but  weeping  widow  across  the  harbor  in 
front  of  him. 

A  chill  struck  him  through  and  through  to  the 
marrow.     He  must  be  taking  cold. 

Leaving  the  fragments  of  his  breakfast,  which  he 
had  hardly  touched,  —  his  hunger  having  strangely 
left  him,  so  that  he  loathed  the  food,  —  he  went  to 
the  water-side,  hoping  to  find  a  sweet  spring  some- 
where under  the  bank,  and  hoping  that  the  birds 
would  be  attracted  to  the  grave  of  his  sleeping  foe  by 
the  food  he  had  left  under  the  pines. 

La  Tour  slept  in  his  canoe  in  a  sunny  nook,  in  the 
lee  of  the  island  no  small  part  of  the  day.  Late  in 
the  afternoon,  he  paddled  up  the  Biguyduce  river  to 
the  camp  where  he  Jiad  left  his  retainers.  By  the 
message  which  they  had  left  under  a  pointed  stone, 
he  soon  found  their  new  place  of  concealment.     Eat- 


BEFORE  SUNRISE  AND  AFTER  SUNSET.     345 


see  her. 

rival  had 
five  been 
a  Cupavo 
B  difficult 
locument 
lers  were 
ment  was 
ti  the  sit- 
in  that 
t  the  new 
riest  and 
larbor  in 

;h  to  the 

which  he 
strangely 
e  went  to 
ng  some- 
the  birds 
ng  foe  by 

ak,  in  the 
Late  in 

3  river  to 
By  the 

ed  stone, 

nt.     Eat- 


ing a  hearty  dinner  of  fresh  trout  and  venison,  he 
prepared  then  to  go  and  see  the  widow.  He  was  un- 
accountably cold ;  he  had,  he  believed,  taken  cold. 
Putting  on,  under  his  outer  garments,  a  short  and 
close  fitting  coon  skin  jacket,  he  drank  a  large 
measure  of  hot  rum,  and  left  the  camp. 

The  widow's  house  was  damp  and  cold,  with  a  sep- 
ulchral closeness  in  the  air.  It  seem-  d  to  La  Tour 
like  a  tomb  with  a  low  fire  in  one  end  of  it,  when  he 
entered.  It  was  dark  :  but  —  as  he  had  secured  a 
note  of  introduction  from  Fra  Cupavo  in  case  he 
should  conclude  to  call,  and  since  the  late  Governor's 
holy  confessor  had  been  there  that  day  with  Fra  Le 
Vilin  less  in  ill-humor  than  he  was  commonly,  and 
as  they  had  mentioned  that  General  la  Tour  was  in 
town  with  important  papers  from  His  Excellency  her 
honored  husband  now  deceased,  —  the  widow  received 
the  distinguished  stranger  with  great  cordiality.  She 
even  extended  her  hand,  when  he  announced  his 
name. 

It  was  like  the  hand  of  the  dead.  La  Tour  in- 
stinctively dropped  it ;  unlocking  as  if  by  a  spring 
his  large  hearty  hand-grasp, —  like  a  steel  trap  sud- 
denly opened  to  free  its  victim.  The  widow,  twice  a 
widow,  almost  fell  to  the  floor.  There  was  heat  in 
La  Tour's  hand,  —  perhaps  a  hidden  fire  in  it.  She 
had  taken  no  human  hand  in  her  own  since  she  was 
for  a  moment  riveted  to  that  frozen  hand  out  of  the 
realms  of  the  dead. 

As  she  half  turned,  La  Tour  quickly  seized  her  left 


S46 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


I 


1 

I 


hand  in  his  right,  and  led  her  to  the  settle  by  the  fire. 
"  Madame,  I  fear  that  you  are  ill.  I  trust  that  I  am 
not  intruding  in  the  hour  of  your  great  sorrow." 

But  for  the  terror  in  her  lip.art,  the  widow  would 
have  smiled  a  little  at  this  tender  mention  of  her  in- 
expressible grief.  She  had  hard  schooled  her  mind 
to  her  feigned  second  widowhood. 

She  had  not  thought  that  her  right  hand  was  cold ; 
and  had  been  quite  unconscious  of  any  peculiar 
sensation  in  it,  or  lack  of  sensation. 

"  I  fear,"  she  answered,  "  that  I  shall  sometime  fall 
from  paralysis." 

In  a  moment,  using  her  left  hand  at  first,  she  began 
to  disturb  the  low  fire ;  and  then,  as  if  forgetting  her- 
self, she  applied  both  hands  to  that  miracle-working 
—  the  creation  of  sheets  of  flames  out  of  dry  sticks, 
glowing  coals  and  smouldering  embers.  Finally  she 
put  on  a  fresh  log.  Gentle,  genial,  resolute,  enter- 
prising Charles  la  Tour,  —  withal  teuder  in  the  house 
of  sorrow  as  he  had  easily  learned  when  with  Con- 
stance —  was  really  making  a  good  deal  of  an  im- 
pression upon  the  widow ;  and  stirring  up  the  fire 
might  dry  her  tears, — and,  possibly,  take  the  chill 
out  of  her  right  hand. 

After  that,  she  failed  to  notice  any  clammy  chill 
in  her  hand;  but  thenceforward,  she  found  herself 
shrinking  from  giving  her  hand  to  any  neighbor  or 
old  acquaintance.  And  no  one  touched  her  right 
hand  again,  until  a  year  after  when  La  Tour  took  it 
upon  their  wedding  day,  when  she  shrieked  outright 


BEFORE  SUNRISE  AND  AFTER  SUNSET.    347 

and  he  dropped  her  hand,  —  as  they  stood  in  the 
cold  gray  morning  within  the  shivering  church  at 
Pentagoiiet.^ 

Too  much,  however,  has  been  now  anticipated.  It 
is  not  likely  that  the  widow  —  at  that  moment  when 
La  Tour  led  her  to  the  fire  thought  of  anything  more 
than  that  she  welcomed  a  human  voice  in  place  of 
the  sepulchral  sound  that  had  kept  calling  to  her,  as 
she  was  engaged  in  her  rounds  of  domestic  service 
and  in  her  preparation  for  the  funeral,  and  d'  ring 
that  solemn  service  which  had  almost  froz  a  her 
heart's  blood  and  stilled  its  beating. 

La  Tour  had  stood  a  momcint,  after  "  jading  her  to 
the  settle  ;  but  sat  down,  when  she  arose  to  finger  the 
fire.  His  heart  had  been  indeed  so  cold,  since  his 
wife  died  ;  and  cold  since  his  little  son  had  been 
shipped  so  suddenly  out  of  his  sight,  without  his  first 
pressing  him  to  his  own  bosom.  And  he  felt  glad, 
that,  instead  of  being  in  his  lonely  camp,  or  closeted 
with  an  intriguing  friar,  or  visiting  the  grave  of  one 
so  long  hostile  to  him,  he  wa,  row  in  the  presence  of 


1  She  finally  died  of  paralysis ;  having  lived  most  happily  with 
General  La  Tour  for  many  years.  But  after  this  wedding,  she  never 
used  her  right  hand  again  for  friendly  greeting  or  a  friend's  pledge. 
Charles  La  Tour  himself  never  knew  what  made  her  hand  so  cold; 
and  with  great  delicacy  refrained  from  alluding  to  it,  even  upon  the 
wedding  day.  At  that  time,  the  priests  —  who  had  previously 
oflficiated  upon  a  similar  occasion  so  ghastly  that  they  must  have 
been  terrified  by  it  when  they  came  to  die  —  thought  that  the  out- 
cry of  La  Tour's  bride  was  not  strange,  in  that  place,  with  such 
memories  as  must  have  overwhelmed  her. 


348 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


a  woman  whose  eyes  were  kindly,  and  whose  lips  were 
of  gentle  accent. 

He  had  feared,  when  he  learned  that  Charnac^  left 
a  widow,  that  she  must  be  strongly  prejudiced  against 
himself  as  her  husband's  bitter  antagonist.  And  it 
puzzled  him  a  little  that  the  widow  was  not  appar- 
ently inconsolable.  He  did  not  want  to  ask  her  how 
loEg  she  had  been  married  to  Charnacd,  or  to  appear 
curious.  She  plainly  had  no  feeling  of  aversion  to 
him.     He  began  once  to  say, — 

"  My  interests — and  — those  of — your  honored  hus- 
band —  were,  —  you  must  have  known  —  too  well, — 
were  inimical."  But  he  had  hard  work  to  get  through 
with  the  sentence.  She  looked  at  him  in  a  quizzical 
way;  as  a  child  would,  innocent  of  wrong  intent 
when  wrong  in  deed.  Then  she  slowly  answered, 
hesitating  as  he  had  done,  —  looking  him  fixedly  in 
the  eye :  — 

"  It  will  be  gratifying  to  me,  if  you  do  not  allude 
to  my  husband ;  it  is  very  painful  for  me  to  have  you 
do  so."  Then  she  dropped  her  eyes,  and  added  tim- 
idly, —  "I  would  rather —  you  would  talk  —  of  your- 
self, —  and  —  of — myself ;  —  or  of  any  business  you 
have  with  me.  I  understood  —  that — you  had  — 
important  papers." 

What  could  La  Tour  do  ?  It  was  plain  from  the 
widow's  manner,  that  she  could  but  keep  her  eyes  on 
his  fine  figure ;  and  that,  when  she  made  way  for  him 
to  sit  at  her  side  on  the  settle  by  the  great  fire-place, 
she  must  be  in  a  state  of  mind  ready  to  receive  favor- 


BEFORE  SUNRISE  AND  AFTER  SUNSET.     349 

ably  any  proposal  he  had  to  make  —  in  a  purely 
business  way. 

"  The  papers  which  I  have  brought  indicate  a  desire 
that  the  past  be  forgotten,  and  that  henceforth  the 
property  interests,  and  the  political  interests,  and  the 
social  interests,  and  —  I  had  almost  said  —  the  do- 
mestic interests,"  —  pausing  and  looking  into  the  eyes 
of  the  widow  —  "of  Acadia  should  be  so  managed 
that  my  interests  shall  not  be  separate  from  the  in- 
terests wl.  "ch  his  Excellency  sought  to  establish." 

"  As  it  is  now,"  was  the  reply,  "  the  Jesuits  have 
taken  possession  of  two  thirds  of  all  the  personal 
property  which  Lieutenant  General  Charnac^  left, 
giving  me  one  third.  His  real  property  he  had  him- 
self deeded  outright  to  his  sister  at  St.  Omer's,  —  its 
use  to  be  at  her  control  after  his  death." 

Her  voice  indicated  that  the  Jesuits  were  not  favor- 
ites with  her,  and  that  her  recent  confidence  in  them 
had  abated. 

La  Tour,  after  a  moment's  pause,  as  if  looking  at 
the  papers  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  turning  them 
toward  the  fire  light,  in  sucli  a  way  that  the  widow  at 
his  side  could  easily  read  with  him,  suggested,  — 

"  It  would  appear,  that  the  purpose  of  Charnacd 
changed  somewhat,  and  that  his  last  will  did  not  con- 
firm this  paper.  Hereiu,  he  directed  me  to  take  pos- 
session ;  and  to  call  apon  the  friars  to  co-operate  with 
me  in  securing  everything :  The  name  Jean  Cupavo, 
Missionary  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  is  attached  hereto 
as  a  witness.    You  will,  I  know  pardon  me,  if  I  in- 


350 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


quire  whether  you  have  yourself  with  your  own  eyes 
seen  the  will  ? " 

"  No,  I  have  not.  I  saw  only  that  part  relating 
to  myself,  and  the  signature,  —  which  I  have  since 
found  does  not  correspond  with  the  Governor's  hand 
upon  my  trading  permit." 

"  But  has  not  one  third  of  the  property  been  paid 
to  you  ? " 

The  widow  gasped,  started  from  her  seat,  turned 
pale,  and  fell  upon  the  hearth. 

Here  was  indeed  some  mystery. 

La  Tour,  without  thinking,  touched  her  right  hand. 
It  was  like  ice,  but  clammy  like  th  o  flesh  of  the  dead. 

Here  was  indeed  some  mystery.  But  the  situation 
was  embarrassing.  His  hostess  was  evidently  very 
ill.  He  feared  that  she  had  fallen  by  a  paralytic 
stroke.  With  some  care,  he  raised  her  to  the  settle ; 
and  placed  under  her  head  a  fox-skin  rug  rolled  for 
a  pillow ;  and  then  he  stood  with  his  back  to  the  fire, 
watching  for  the  revival  of  his  patient.  Turning, 
after  a  little,  he  looked  far  up  the  throat  of  the  great 
chimney,  —  and  he  saw  what  appeared  to  be  a  coin- 
bag  black  ■\  Hh  smoke;  and  from  it  hung  an  icicle, 
like  a  stalactite,  —  it  was  however  so  blackened  that 
he  did  not  feel  certain,  —  and  a  puff  of  smoke  from 
the  fire,  filling  his  eyes,  he  turned  his  head,  and  saw 
that  his  patient  had  recovered  from  her  swoon,  and 
was  now  sitting  up. 

Pressing  her  temples  with  the  thumb  and  fore- 
finger of  her  left  hand,  she  said,  —  "I  am  giddy.    If 


BEFORE  SUNr.'ISE  AND  AFTER  SUNSET.     351 


you  ^vill  heat  the  poker,  we  will  burn  a  little  brandy 
infused  with  bluets,  then  my  head  will  be  clear.  You 
will  find  the  bottle  in  the  side-board." 

As  she  delicately  sipped  the  scorched  brandy,  La 
Tour  required  no  urging  to  visit  the  side-board  for  a 
draught  of  wine. 

Charnacd's  widow  was  evidently  not  well  enough 
to  talk  further ;  nor,  at  the  late  hour,  was  it  desirable. 

As  he  left  the  door,  a  red  meteor  blazed  across  the 
sky,  as  if  falling  near,  —  and  it  divided  into  two  balls 
of  fire,  and  dropped  into  the  sea  between  the  fort  and 
Nautilus  Island. 


352 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


XLI. 


LA  TOUK. 


A  FTER  General  La  Tour  had  made  such  business 
■^^-  arrangements  as  seemed  most  likely  to  pro- 
mote peace  in  Acadia,  he  sailed  for  France.  Once 
upon  his  ship,  ploughing  the  waves  of  mid  ocean,  he 
b::^,d  time  to  think.  And  then  it  seemed  as  strange 
to  him,  as  to  the  prosaic  historians  to  whom  he  has 
been  an  enigma  for  two  centuries,  that  after  all  he 
had  agreed  —  upon  his  return  from  France  with  a 
renewed  commission  as  Lieutenant  General  of  Acadia 
—  to  marry  the  widow  of  Gharnac^. 

With  a  very  large  element  of  hopefulness  in  his 
heart,  he  took  the  world  easily,  one  day  with  another, 
doing  what  seemed  best  for  that  day,  and  burdening 
himself  little  with  cares  for  the  past  or  the  future. 
Ho  reviewed  his  ground  with  some  care;  and  be- 
lieved that  he  had  made  no  mistake,  in  carrying  out 
the  plan  he  formed  in  his  boyhood  to  have  a  sharp 
eye  to  his  own  interests.  And  it  was  clearly  for  his 
interest  to  have  peace  in  Acadia. 

This  point,  then,  being  settled,  —  he  smoked  his 
pipe  as  he  sat  cross-legged  upon  the  quarter  deck,  or 
went  forward  and  told  yarns  with  the  seamen. 


his 


^,  or 


LA  TOUR. 


353 


Upon  disembarking  at  Vannes,  La  Tour  ma  ie  his 
way  to  Vitrd,  some  seven  leagues  east  of  Kennes,  and 
there  upon  the  picturesque  bank  of  the  Vilaine,  he 
found  his  son  in  the  home  of  Henrietta,  who  had 
married  the  child's  guardian,  Lamotte.  They  lived 
in  a  house  near  the  old  feudal  castle,  in  after  ganera- 
tions  occupied  by  Madame  de  S^vignd. 

Protestant  character  in  France  had  begun  to  tell. 
The  able  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  the  re- 
formed laith  were  found  to  be  men  worthy  of  trust. 
The  walls  of  Vitrd,  and  their  flanking  towers,  offered 
good  shelter  in  troublous  times  ;  so  that  public  Prot- 
estant worship  was  maintained  here  more  than  a 
hundred  years.  The  son  of  Constance  came  to  be  of 
man's  estate  in  just  such  a  community  as  his  mother 
would  have  selected  for  him.  And  he  was  then  con- 
nected by  marriage  with  the  house  of  the  most  high 
and  mighty  princess  of  Tarente.^ 

The  Protestant  religious  services  were  observed  at 
her  chateau,  —  it  being  her  manorial  right,  —  after 
the  authorities  had  prohibited  public  worship.  Upon 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  JSTiiites,  the  princess 
retired  to  Heidelberg ;  ^  and  Charles  the  son  of  Con- 
stance removed  to  Frankfort,  —  the  princess  dying  at 
his  house  in  16^3.  He  returned  to  Vitrd  in  later 
years,  and  lived  to  such  age  that  he  held  in  his  arms 

^  Emilie  of  Hesse,  widow  of  Henri  Charles  de  la  Ti  ..;;'>uille, 
Prince  de  Tarente  et  de  Talraond,  due  de  Thouars.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  the  landgrave  William  of  Hesse  Cassel. 

'^  Certain  families,  who  had  worshipped  in  her  house  at  Yitr^, 
escaped  to  South  Carolina. 

23 


I 


t   '?^'.;?  .¥"•■'  J.K4 


vU 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


his  iuiant  grardfjou  Thdophile  Malo  Coiret  de  La 
Tour  D'AuvergL'S  who  fell  at  Oberhaufveu.J 

Charles  ia  Tour  of  Acadia  confirmed  tho  action  of 
Charnac«l  in  respect  to  property  and  the  guardiansiiip 
lor  his  son.  And  it  was,  in  after  years,  upon  a  voy- 
a,ge  to  visit  this  soii,  that  he  perished  by  encounter- 
ing an  iceberg  off  t)ie  American  co  3,st.  The  son  fuuni 
that  the  name  La  Tour  had  been  loni.^  honored  fivmong 
the  facnlies  t>f  France,  reaching  jjack  through  Zxany 
cen  aied  a  name  which,  in  subsequent  generations, 
has  ffiir'o tallied  a  high  place  upon  the  roll  of  able  and 
useful  rajn. 

The  Queen  Kegent,  —  Louis  XIII.  being  dead,  and 
Bichelieu  his  master  dead,  —  gave  Charles  la  Tour  a 
new  commission,  which  recited  a  fornddable  list  of 


1  Representing  the  last  drop  of  the  blood  of  Constance,  the  ca- 
reer of  him  to  whom  Napoleon  gave  a  sword  inscribed  '*  To  the  First 
Grenadier  of  France,"  but  who  returned  the  sword,  saying  that  sol- 
diers were  equals  ;  who  refused  promotion,  but  had  eight  thousand 
men  put  into  his  company  a3  the  vanguard ;  who  in  the  hour  of 
peace  was  a  close  student  and  an  author  whose  works  are  in  good 
repute  to-day,  but  who  was  terrible  in  the  day  of  battle  ;  for  whom 
the  whole  French  army  mourned  three  days  when  he  was  slain  ;  ia 
love  for  whom  every  soldier  set  apart  a  day's  pay  to  purchasf  a 
silver  urn  to  hold  his  heart,  which  was  borne  with  his  regiment ; 
whose  name  was  called  at  the  daily  muster  roll  for  fourteen  years, 
till  the  very  close  of  the  Empire,  before  any  one  would  answer  that 
La  Tour  had  died  upon  the  field  of  honor  ;  whr^e  sabre  was  placed 
in  the  Church  of  the  Invalids;  whose  Spar  v.  .simplicity  of  life, 
and  self  devotement  to  his  country,  is  comru  -ated  by  the  mon- 
ument sti'i  tanding  upon  the  old  b8;*<^'le  g  ■  ..  in  Bavaria, — all 
this  may  ■  -""v  been  foreshadowed  in  tb'.-  .uf'.  ,r  seen  by  Constance 
in  that  winter  night  in  the  Acadian  VflC.. 


LA   TOUR. 


355 


de  La 

tioo  of 
aiisiiip 
a  voy- 
juntei- 
L  found 
among 
,  niany 
rations, 
ble  and 

ad,  and 
Tour  a 
list  of 

e,  the  ca- 
the  First 
that  sol- 
thousand 
e  hour  of 
e  in  good 
for  whom 
slain  ;  in 
)urchasp.  a 
egiment ; 
een  years, 
aswer  that 
vas  placed 
ty  of  life, 
r  the  mon- 
ia,  —  all 
Constance 


good  things  which  lie  had  never  performed,  and  stated 
in  round  terms  that  he  had  been  lied  about  by  his 
enemies.^  It  was  his  first  appearance  at  court ;  and 
it  was  agreed  that  the  wonderful  suavity  of  the  Aca- 
dian woodsman  would  have  opened  for  him  a  high 
destiny  had  he  chosen  to  be  a  courtier. 

Governor  La  Tour's  most  marvellous  performance 
in  France,  however,  was  his  persuading  Suzanne,  the 
devout  woman  of  St.  Omer,  sister  of  Charnac^,  not 
only  to  bequeath  to  him  the  real  estate  she  had  re- 
ceived from  her  brother,  but  considerately  to  die 
within  a  twelve  month.^  The  imperturbable  self 
complacency,  and  diplomatic  skill  of  La  Tour,  were 
a  large  part  of  his  working  capital ;  and  the  interest 
of  La  Tour  was  always  uppermost  in  his  mind.  The 
canoness  was  the  more  easily  persuaded  by  a  letter 
addressed  to  her  by  —  her  late  brother's  confessor  — 
Fra  Cupavo;  in  consideration  of  which  La  Tour 
never  disturbed  the  provisions  made  in  the  bogus 
will  for  the  benefit  of  the  Jesuits.  La  Tour  also  had 
letters  from  Fra  Le  Vilin  to  the  learned  men  in  the 
Jesuit  College  at  St.  Omer's,  where  he  had  been  a 
student.  "When  Suzanne  walked  the  ramparts  of  this 
fortified  town,  —  which  have  since  been  made  so 
beautiful  by  the  planting  of  elms  in  peaceful  genera- 
tions,—  she  looked  upon  hi*Ti  as  the  most  pious  per- 
son in  the  New  World;  an  opinion  which,  in  La 

*  Hanney's  Acadiu   pp.  189,  190. 

2  McGregor's  British  America,  I.  C81  ;  flaliburton's  Nova  Sco- 
tia, I.  60. 


^''-^ 


356 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Tour's  mind,  went  far  toward  healing  the  wound  in- 
flicted by  Ward  of  Ipawicli  who  had  spoken  of  him 
so  doubtingly  in  Boston.  The  sparkling  fountains  of 
the  city,  and  the  floating  islands  upon  which  cattle 
were  feeding  as  upon  green  rafts  drawn  ashore  at 
night,  and  the  gardens  north  of  the  city,  —  all  in- 
terested La  Tour.  He  told  the  canoness,  as  he  did 
Winthrop  about  the  Boston  training,  that  he  never 
saw  anything  like  it  before,  and  that  he  would  not 
have  believed  it  if  he  had  not  seen  it. 

The  widow  Berni^res,  the  relict  of  the  late  Gov- 
ernor, was  more  ruddy  upon  the  return  of  La  Tour ; 
the  Acadian  cli^nate  being  modified,  and  better 
adapted  to  hei  constitution.  The  articles  set  forth, 
that  the  end  and  principal  design  of  the  marriage 
was  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  country;  the 
ceremony  being  attested  by  the  very  reverend  father 
St.  Leonard  de  Chartes,  Vice  Prefect,  et  custode  de 
la  mission,  who  had  charge  of  Charnac^'s  Indian 
Seminary  at  Port  Koyal;  by  Frfere  Jean  Desnouse 
St.  Franqoise  Marie ;  by  J.  Jacquelin,  Provost  de  St. 
Martin ;  and  by  La  Verdure  et  Bourgeois,  Temoins.* 

If  the  religious  sensibilities  of  H^loise  had  ever 
suffered  a  shock,  she  had  been  amply  reassured  by 
the  pliant  La  Tour,  and  the  assiduous  attention  of  the 
friars.  Her  mind  was  too  broad  to  throw  up  her 
faith  in  the  whole  Church,  for  any  wrong  doing  of 
local  representatives;  and  she  had  no  light  to  lead 

1  Consult  Murdoch's  Nova  Scotia,  I.  113  ;  Harney's  Acadia, 
p.  191 ;  Wheeler's  Castine,  p.  19. 


LA   TOUR. 


357 


lead 


her  to  question  the  Church  itself.  Accordingly,  at 
the  suggestion  of  her  confessor,  she  mingled,  in  her 
husband's  cup  of  the  wedding  wine,  powder  of  relics 
of  the  Saint  Brdbeuf,  the  Jesuit  father  who  suffered 
martyrdom  at  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois,  And  after 
that,  neither  she  nor  the  friars  had  reason  to  suspect 
Governor  La  Tour  of  heresy. 

Particularly  he  clung  to  the  Jesuitical  maxims 
when  the  Protestant  Emmanuel  Le  Borgue,  of  La 
Eochelle,  appeared  with  improved  artillery,  and  began 
to  take  La  Tour's  stone  forts  one  after  another,  in 
enforcing  his  claims  to  the  whole  of  Acadia,  upon 
the  judgment  of  a  French  court  of  justice  on  ac- 
count of  Charnacd's  debt  to  him  of  *^wo  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  livres.  It  would  not  be  for 
the  interest  of  La  Tour  to  pay  debts  contiit  3d  in 
fighting  himself.  He  invoked  the  aid  of  England ; 
and  surrendered  Acadia,  forts  and  all,  promptly  to 
Cromwell. 

Then  he  flew  upon  swift  wings  over  sea ;  and 
showed  the  Protector  his  original  papers,  —  that  ha 
had  been  created  by  England  a  baronet,  and  that  he 
had  received  a  great  English  land  g'  *■  he  said 
nothing  about  his  shooting  with  great  guns  at  his 
own  father  and  the  English  flag,  but  he  asked  to  be 
made  the  British  Governor  of  Acadia.  Cromwell 
gave  him  the  commission;  and  more  land,  —  three 
hundred  miles  inland  measured  around  the  shores  of 
Fundy,  —  it  being  agreed  between  the  uncompromis- " 
ing  Cromwell  and  the  compromising  La  Tour,  that 


<r% 


^  '■■■y»- 


358 


CONSTANCE   OF  ACADIA. 


none  but  "Protescati'     should  be  permitted  to  reside 
on  this  laud.^ 

As  Governor  of  Acadia  under  the  Commonwealth, 
La  Tour  wrested  their  property  from  the  irreligious 
priest ,  of  Pentagoiiet,  and  b '.".''  1  the  Jesuits  out  of 
the  country ;  they  on  their  part  loudly  proclaiming, 
that  such  ingratitude  and  talse  faith  was  just  what 
ipi^ht  be  expected  of  Protestants,  who  were  no  better 
than  the  infidel  Turks.  La  Tour  did  not  even  retort, 
that  it  was  no  sin  to  lie  to  the  Jesuits ;  but  that  was 
M'hat  he  thought. 

He  introduced  Franciscans  from  Aquitane  to  carry 
on  the  Micmac  and  Malachite  mission  work,  the  gray 
friars  Vimount,  La  Fl^che,  Vieuxpont ;  huml-  :,  self 
devoted  workers,  who,  even  if  they  baptized  with  lit- 
tle discrimination,  exerted  a  most  favorable  influence. 
They  united  the  Indians  of  Acadia ;  rendered  them 
friendly  to  the  white,^ ;  improved  their  social  and 
domestic  condition ;  and  imparted  the  most  simple 
elements  of  rdigi(>'.s  faith  md  practice,  —  which  in 
the  lives  of  many  brought  forth  good  fruit.  This 
work  was  contir'ied  generation  after  generation,  an 
influence  more  favorable  e  cry  way  than  any  other 
attainable. 

Governor  La  Tour  t^  'n  established  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  Acadi  Si  ion  Imbert,  one  of  the 
ruling  elders,  remarked  to  M.  Rochet  that  La  Tour 
was  full  as  good  as  the  average,  —  so  far  as  he  could 
see.    Kochet  replied  that  the  Governor  had  only  one 

1  Haaney,  p.  201. 


LA  TOUR. 


359 


fault :  it  was  too  apparent  that  he  winced  when  Rev- 
erend Hugh  McLean  preached  on  carnal-mindednesa. 
That  the  Governor  waa  respectably  religious,  there  is 
no  doubt. 

Neither  is  it  a  matter  of  doubt,  that  he  did  not  pay 
Major  Giboues  his  £2500,  when  he  had  the  money. 
La  Tour  had  squeezed  Boston  like  an  orange;  he 
then  tlirew  it  away,  —  why  should  he  pick  it  up  ? 
The  New  Engl;  J  historians  have  avenged  the  Boston 
merchants;  but  Acadia,  La  Tour's  own  country,  is 
kindly  to  his  memory. 

Charles  La  Tour  knew  Acadia  too  well  to  hold  it. 
It  was  liable  to  change  masters  any  day;  and  be  dealt 
•mt  to  new  parties  in  new  grants.  He  therefore 
beamed  upon  Sir  Thomas  Temple,  through  the  fogs 
of  London ;  and,  like  a  sharp  business  man,  crowded 
through  a  sale  of  half  his  Cromwellian  land  grant, 
while  his  stock  was  highest,  —  then  retired  to  private 
life.  It  was  none  too  soon.  Charles  II.  restored 
Acadia  to  France ;  and  Temple  was  ruined. 

La  Tour  and  his  wife  Hdloise  had  a  home,  with 
beautiful  surroundings,  at  Port  Eoyal,  Their  de- 
scendants —  of  good  family  as  this  w  orld  goes  —  have 
borne  well  their  part  in  the  Acadian  history,  improv- 
ing their  stock  during  more  than  two  hundred  years : 
in  marrying-  and  giving  in  marriage,  the  rearing  of 
children,  the  sawing  of  lumber,  the  sailing  of  ships, 
the  building  of  churches,  the  fighting  of  such  battles 
as  offered,  —  living  and  dying,  and  entering  into  the 
unseen. 


.A 


360 


CONSTANCE  OF  ACADIA. 


Hdloise  was  always  a  devout  Catholic ;  and  she 
never  told  her  husband  of  her  false  marriage.  It  was 
reported,  however,  by  Koland  Capon  upon  his  death- 
bed after  La  Tour's  decease.  And  the  fishermen  got 
hold  of  it,  and  transformed  it  after  their  fashion  in 
tiie  swift  ])assing  generations, — until  to-day  wherever 
a  man  and  woman  and  a  roUy-poly  priest  are  figured 
in  ice  upon  the  rocks  along  the  ancient  Acadian 
coast,  —  which  sometimes  occurs  where  the  water- 
brooks  pour  down  liigh  banks  into  the  sea  keeping 
the  bowlders  and  ragged  ledges  glistening  with  fresh 
ice  all  winter,  —  tliere  where  icy  hands  are  clasped 
in  marriage,  no  mL.n  will  fish  summer  or  winter,  and 
crafts  give  a  wide  berth  to  the  coast  of  ill  omen. 

And  still,  along  the  Acadian  coast,  are  rarely  seen 
strange  lights,  moving  hither  and  thither,  perhaps 
among  icebergs  from  the  north,  most  frequently  upon 
the  reefs  near  Cape  Sable.  Is  it  not  said,  that  this 
light  walked  the  waves  like  a  spirit,  smoothing  down 
the  rough  billows,  before  the  ship  of  Bergier  the 
prominent  La  Kochelle  merchant,  whom  Louis  XIV. 
named  as  his  Lieutenant  in  Acadia,  after  the  country 
had  passed  from  La  Tour  and  the  English  rule  to 
France  ?  And  is  not  the  wreck  of  D'Anville's  fleet 
—  the  Armada  inimical  to  the  Protestant  interests  of 
the  New  World  —  upon  the  ledges  near  Cape  Sable, 
attributed  by  some  to  a  star-like  dancing  light  which 
misled  the  helmsman,  and  the  sudden  rise  of  a  great 
gale  from  the  south  ? 

And  the  pleasant  farm  lands  near  Annapolis,  the 


LA  TOUR, 


361 


old  Port  Royal,  are  sometimes  visited,  in  the  season 
of  vintage,  by  a  singular  illumination  upon  dark 
nights.  And  men  when  alone  in  any  trouble  have 
often  spoken  of  it,  particularly  those  who  are  very 
poor,  who  live  near  tlie  sea  and  draw  their  food  from 
the  waters.  And  the  light  is  always  seen  moving 
over  the  surface  of  the  Bay  of  the  Rio  Hermoso  north 
of  the  Fox  islands,  upon  a  certain  night  early  in  May. 
Once  it  has  been  seen  at  low  tide  tracing  the  rem- 
nants of  .the  ohl  pier  at  Castine,  and  moving  about 
the  depression  in  the  soil  which  marks  the  old  fort. 
It  has  never  been  seen  floating  above  the  tides  of 
Fundy  since  the  second  night  after  the  fall  of  La 
Tour's  fort,  when  the  chaplain  affirmed  that  be  saw 
it,  sweeping  swiftly  into  tlie  open  sea. 

How  little  would  Constance  have  been  satisfied  so 
to  live  in  the  traditions  of  men.  Was  it  not  rather 
her  own  expectation,  the  assurance  in  which  she  died, 
that  she  would  return  home  at  last,  and  dwell  in  far 
off  spheres  of  light,  endowed  with  perpetual  youth  ? 


TO    THE    READER 


A  "NOVEL"  way,  or  "new"  "unusual"  way,  of 
•*^^-  sifting  and  combining  historical  events  is  often 
attractive ;  but  its  usefulness  will  be  in  proportion  to 
the  nun.ber  of  readers  »vho  are  led  by  it  to  study  the 
best  authorities  easily  attainable,  and  to  hold  fast 
only  that  which  is  good  and  beautiful  and  true. 
Although  the  footnotes  follow  the  rule  of  the  "  novel" 
text,  yet  many  of  them  carry  their  character  upon 
their  faces,  and  lead  to  recognized  standards :  when 
used  in  connection  with  a  good  historical  chart,  no 
studious  person  can  go  amiss. 

The  writer  is  indebted  most  of  all  to  private  papers 
in  his  possession:  that  these  papers  exhibit  the  es- 
sential facts  in  a  new  light  will  be  acknowledged  by 
every  candid  historical  student. 

If  he  has  been  led  by  them  to  locate  the  contest 
described  in  chapters  III.  ond  V.  differently  from  some 
other  writers,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  authorities 
differ  to  a  surprising  degree  in  regard  to  the  whole 
story.  For  example,  the  discrepancy  between  Win- 
throp   and  Hutchinson  alluded  to  upon  page  216, 


366 


TO  THE  READER. 


m 


would  indicate  that  one  wrote  upon  rumor.  The 
point  is  not  important.  Haliburton's  Nova  Scotia, 
I.  55,  59,  is  probably  right.  More  singularly,  the 
historians  differ  in  regard  even  to  the  locality  of 
the  events  alluded  to  in  chapters  XXXIV.  and 
XXX\'.  Gesners  New  Brunswick  London,  1847, 
pp.  25,  26 ;  Haliburton,  1.  58 ;  and  M.  Kameau,  — 
are  upon  one  side.  Williamson's  Maine,  and  Fer- 
nald's  Canada,  although  differing  by  two  years  in 
the  dates  assigned;  Charlevoix's  History,  II.  196; 
and  Hazard  upon  the  Gibones'  mortgage,  —  are 
upon  the  other  side :  having  the  best  of  it,  without 
doubt.  If  these  obscure  passages  in  history  are  not 
important  enough  to  contend  about,  no  discussion 
need  be  raised  as  to  the  locality  of  the  quarrel  be- 
tween the  La  Tours.  Nor  need  any  question  be 
raised  if,  —  upon  grounds  justified  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  Greeks,  —  one  character  in  the  history  has 
been  treated  as  if  h^  had  never  existed. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 


TT  would  be  entirely  unjust  to  the  authors  men- 
■*•  tioned  below,  if  the  reader  fails  of  instituting  the 
comparisons  now  indicated :  — 

Page  87.  Vase  of  ice.  Vide  Noble's  After  Ice- 
bergs with  a  Painter. 

Page  116.  Two  wolves  skulking.  Alexander's 
L'Acadie,  p.  15. 

Page  218.  The  taking  of  the  Castor.  Compare 
with  Hathaway's  New  Brunswick,  Frederickton, 
1846,   p.   13. 

Page  235.  The  reply  of  the  father  of  Constance  to 
the  Governor.  Vide  Baird's  Huguenots  in  America ; 
consulting  "  Bernon  "  in  the  index. 

Page  302.  "  Tender  loving  words,"  etc.,  N.  B.  S., 
worthy  of  all  honor. 

Page  308.  Twentj^-third  Psalm.  Vide  Oevvres 
De  Clement  Marot.  Eoven,  1596.  Tradvctions,  p. 
187. 

Page  313.  "It  is  your  part  to  guide  me  to 
heaven."  Abbott's  Maine,  p.  69,  evidently  refers 
to  this.      The  words   "  Poutrincourt "  and  "Biard," 


■  I 


368 


ACKN0WLEDQMENT8. 


in  the  Index  of  Parkman's  Pioneers  of  France,  will 
lead  to  Lescarbot.  The  second  of  the  worthies,  Biard, 
is  an  interesting  character. 

Page  318.  "  God  had  withdrawn  the  light  forever." 
There  is  a  suggestive  passage  in  the  Talmud,  relating 
to  the  first  night  after  our  fallen  parents  were  driven 
from  Paradise. 

Page  330.  Madame  de  la  Peltrie.  Vide  Park- 
man's  Jesuits,  pp.  171-3. 

Page  357.  Brdbeufs  relics.  Vide  Baird's  Hug. 
in  Am.  pp.  119,  120. 


